ON THE STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE 

 STROMATOPOROIDEA 1 



M. HEINRICH 



In the course of my studies on the numerous stromatoporids 

 from the Rhenish Devonian which are in the Geological Institute 

 of the University of Bonn, among them the types of Goldfuss and 

 Bargatzky, I have come to hold a view concerning the structure 

 and especially concerning the classification of the Stromatoporoidea 

 which is not in harmony with the one now generally accepted. 



Since the publication of my complete work, which will appear 

 under the title, Studien in den Riffkalken des rheinischen Mittel- 

 devon. I. Teil: Biologie, Morphologie und Genesis der Riffe des 

 rheinischen oberen Mitteldevon. II. Teil: Revision der Stroma- 

 toporen is still somewhat distant, I will present here the results 

 of the second part, leaving the detailed evidence to follow in the 

 complete work. 



It is apparent from all textbooks on paleontology and also 

 from the often exhaustive works of recent students of this debata- 

 ble subject (Parks and others), that since 1886-92 the view of 

 Nicholson has been generally followed and the Stromatoporoidea 

 therefore divided into two groups. The " milleporoid " group 

 includes the forms which possess the so-called "zooidal tubes"; 

 and the other or " hydractinoid " group, those without such struc- 

 tures. To the first group are referred the families Stromatoporidae 

 Nicholson and Idiostromidae Nicholson; to the second, the families 

 Actinostromidae Nicholson and Labechidae Nicholson. 



It now appears: (1) that the families Labechidae Nicholson 

 and Idiostromidae Nicholson should be taken out of the order 

 Stromatoporoidea, since their organization has scarcely anything 

 in common with that of the remaining Stromatoporoidea. By 

 means of this division, a simple, clear definition is obtained for the 



1 Translated from the German (N. Jahrb.fiir Min., etc., 1914, No. 23, pp. 732-36) 

 by Clara Mae LeVene, Peabody Museum, Yale University. 



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