ON CRETACKOUS POLYZOA. 301 



Report of the Comviittee, consisting of Dr. H. Woodward, Mr, 

 Gr. R. Vine {Secretary), Professor 1'. Rupert Jones, and Dr. H. C. 

 SoRBY, appointed for the completion of a report on the Creta- 

 ceous Polyzoa. {Draivn up by the Secretary.) 



I. Upper- Cretaceous Polyzoa (British akea only). 



In a previous report on Cretaceous Polyzoa ' I dealt with the strati- 

 graphical distribution of the fossils which had been found in the lower 

 beds of the Upper Cretaceous series, and in the Neocomian beds below. 

 Last year (1891), at the Cardiff Meeting of the British Association, I 

 contributed a paper on the Polyzoa of the Zones of the Upper Challc,^ in 

 which I referred to certain peculiarities of some of the Polyzoan fauna 

 derived from the British Senonian rocks, which had been noticed in 

 the course of my investigations. These peculiarities seemed to merit 

 something more than a passing remark, and I partly expressed an opinion 

 that, in all probability, if the different zones of the Chalk were carefully 

 worked, and the Polyzoan fauna studied, much light might be thrown 

 upon the zonal distribution of Polyzoa in Cretaceous rocks, both British 

 and Continental. In the present report I have endeavoured to carry out 

 my original design, and I believe I have now catalogued all the British 

 species which have been recorded up to date. Had it not been for the 

 willing help of personal friends, this would have been impossible. To 

 Mr. Gamble, of New Brompton, Kent, I tender my most sincere thanks 

 for placing before me his fine collection of Chatham Polyzoa, and for the 

 free gift of fragments derived from the Chalk and from the ' Flint-meal,'' 

 •which have proved to be .of the highest value in the compilation of this 

 report. By means of this help the Chatham Chalk has been worked so 

 thoroughly that this section of my labours must be regarded as the type 

 of all the others that will follow. 



In the report already referred to I drew attention to the fact that in 

 Mr. Etheridge's lists of genera (with specific indications), published in the 

 second volume of Professor Phillips' ' Manual of Geology,' ^ only sixty-one 

 British species are recorded as derived from the whole of the Upper 

 Cretaceous rocks. This is sixteen more than were given by Professor 

 Morris in the ' Catalogue of British Fossils ' (ed. 1854). In Table VIIL, 

 p. 333, vol. ii. of Professor Prestwich's 'Geology,' 1888, the 'Polyzoars' 

 from the Chalk, Upper Greensand, and Gault are tabulated as ' 80,' or 

 about the same ' specific ' proportion as given by Mr. Etheridge, ' 59 genera 

 and 114 species,' if we leave out the 34 species found in the Neocomian 

 rocks. This, then, as there have not been any additions to the Cretaceous 

 Polyzoan fauna subsequent to those dates, must be taken as the status of 

 our knowledge since the issue of the admirable ' Catalosjue of British 

 Fossils ' by Professor Morris in 1854. 



Of public collections of Upper- Chalk Polyzoa I am acquainted with a 

 few only. The fine series in the British Museum (Natural History) I have 

 recently examined, but it is nov/ undergoing rearrangement. The series 



' British Association Report on 'Cretaceous Polyzoa,' 1890. 

 ' JSrUish Association Eeports, 1891, p. G56. 

 ' Ed. 1885, pp. 589-90. 



