52 A Retro82^ect of Palceontology for Forty Years. 



by Sir William Dawson made known an abundant sponge-fauna 

 in rocks previously considered to be unfossiliferous. Professor 

 SoUas figured and described a Vitreo-liexactinellid sponge from 

 the Cambridge Coprolite-bed, which he named Euhrochiis clnusns. 

 Dr. G. J. Hinde (1886) showed that Eophyton'i explanatum, Hicks, 

 and Hijalostelia fasciculus, described by Dr. Hicks as plants, were 

 really sponges, and he illustrated their microscopic structure. 



Graptolites. — Amoug the authors who have contributed to the 

 study of this group of organisms must be specially mentioned the 

 names of Professor H. Alleyne Nicholson, William Carruthers, 

 John Hopkinson, Professor Chas. Lapworth, Linnarsson, and Holm. 

 Lapworth wrote on the Classification of the Rhabdopora (1873) and 

 on the Scottish Monograptidaj (1876) ; Hopkinson on Bicranograptns, 

 Dicellograptns, and on Scottish Graptolites ; Carruthers on the 

 systematic position of Graptolites, and a revision of British species. 

 Nicholson described the Graptolitic shales of Duuifriesshire and the 

 Lower Silurian Graptolites of South Scotland, and noticed some 

 associated reproductive bodies. E. T. Newton figured Graptolites 

 from Peru. Dr. G. Holm, of Stockholm, described and figured some 

 most beautiful Swedish Graptolites belonging to Didymograptits, 

 Tetragraptus, and Phyllograptus. T. S. Hall wrote on the Graptolite- 

 bearing rocks of Victoria, Australia ; while Dr. 0. Hermann con- 

 tributed an important paper on the Organisation and Economy of 

 Graptolites, and Dr. G. Linnarsson gave their vertical range in Sweden. 



Corals. — One of the most valuable papers on Corals was that 

 by Dr. Gustav Lindstrom (1866) dealing with those remarkable 

 opercnlated forms from the Silurian — GomophijUum pyramidale, 

 Rhizophyllum Gotlandicum, and Hallia calceoloides, found at Wisby,^ 

 I. of Gotland, and from our own Wenlock Limestone — closely related 

 to Calceola sandalino, Lamk., from the Eifel Devonian, found 

 also at Torquay, Devonshire, and described in 1873 by the Rev. 

 T. R. R. Stebbing. These fossils were formerly placed with the 

 Brachiopoda. Professor H. A. Nicholson contributed eight papers 

 on Cystiphylhim, Hemtphyllam, Favosites, Cleistopora. etc., and R. F. 

 Tomes seven essays on the Madreporaria. Professor P. Martin 

 Duncan wrote on Axosmilia longata from the Inferior Oolite. 

 Dr. G. J. Hinde described some Corals and Polyzoa from Western 

 Australia ; Dr. J. W. Gregory on fossil Madreporaria and Millestroma 

 from Egypt. H. A. Nicholson and Robert Etheridge, jun., figured 

 a small coi'al, Cladochomis, parasitic on the stems of crinoids. 



Stromatopora. — Dr. Alexander Brown, working in the Abei'deen 

 University laboratory, made a most important contribution on the 

 structure and affinities of the genus Solenopora, and described and 

 figured seven new species. 



Starfishes (Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea). — H. Woodward an- 

 nounced a new and very interesting fossil Ophiuroid from the Silurian 

 of Dudley named Encladia Johnsoui ; and Seliantliaster fiUciformis, 

 another new species of starfish from the Devonian of South Devon. 

 Dr. P. Hebert Carpenter figured and noticed a group of beautiful 

 bulbous-armed starfishes from the Chalk of Bromlej-, Kent. A paper 



