CRETACEOUS. en 97 
Lower Cambrian slates of Middle Granville, New York. The second is 
Discophyllum peltatum Hall, from the “‘ Hudson River group” of New York.! 
(See p. 101.) 
CRETACEOUS. 
Reports of the discovery of fossil medusze in flint nodules derived from 
the Cretaceous have been made from time to time since Dr. Kner described 
Medusites cretaceus in 1866. ‘This species is noticed by Brandt, Haeckel, 
and Ammon. In 1871 Dr. Brandt proposed Medusites helgolandicus for a 
second species, and in 1886 Dr. Ammon described a third species as Medu- 
sites latilobatus. 
Through the courtesy of Dr. C. Gottsche, I have had an opportunity 
to examine a collection of the so-called fossil medusze belonging to the 
Natural History Museum at Hamburg. In the letter transmitting the 
specimens, under date of January 23, 1896, Dr. Gottsche states that he is 
convinced that the fossils have nothing to do with medusze; that the speci- 
men from Langenhorn shows on the under surface the undoubted stalk of a 
siliceous sponge, which led him to suspect that the fossils are Camero- 
spongia-like bodies. On the receipt of the specimens from Dr. Gottsche, I 
had thin sections cut from one of them, and found it to be a true siliceous 
sponge belonging to the Lithistida. 
All three of the species described from the Cretaceous flints appear 
to belong to the same group and should be referred to the Spongiz. As 
they have, however, been described as fossil medusze, a description of them 
will be given; also the figure of Medusites latilobatus (fig. 25, p. 99), and an 
illustration of the spicular structure cut from a specimen of M. latilobatus 
(fig. 26, p. 100). 
Genus MEDUSITES Germar. 
MEDUSITES CRETACEUS Kner. 
Medusites cretaceus Kner, 1866, Sitzungsber. K. Akad. Wiss. Wien., Math.-naturwiss. 
Classe, Vol. LII, Part I, pp. 480-482. 
Medusites cretaceus Brandt, 1871. Mém. Acad. imp. sci. St. Pétersbourg, 7th series, 
WViGljexe Vale Noy Le ps2: 
Medusites cretaceus Haeckel, 1880. System der Medusen, p. 647. 
Medusites cretaceus Ammon, 1886. Abhandl. Math.-phys. Classe Kéngl. bayerischen 
Akad. Wiss., Vol. XV, p. 158. 
' Paleontology of New York, Vol. I, p. 277, pl. 75, fig. 3. 
MON XXX 7 
