Dr. J. W. Gregory — Egy2)tian Corals. 247 



not surprised that a microscopic section showed the presence of 

 pali, and accordingly necessitated the transference of the species to 

 Flesiastrcea. The figure of the section also illustrates the nature of 

 the exotheca. 



The species is very closely allied to Plesiastrcea Bomettensis, Seg.^ 



Genus SOLENASTR^A, Edwards & Haime, 1848. 



SoLENASTK^A TuRONENSis (Michelin), 1847. 



Astrcea Turonensis, Michelin, 1847 : '"'Icon. Zooph.," p. 312, pi. Ixxv, 

 figs. 1, 2. 



Solenastrcea Turonensis, Edwards & Haime, 1857 : " Hist. nat. Cor.," 

 vol. ii, p. 498. 



Distribution. — Miocene — Helvetian : Turin, Touraine, etc. ; 

 Egypt— Jebel Geneffe, near Suez {fide Euchs) ; Camp No. 20, 

 between Cairo and Suez ; Coll. Geol. Surv. Egypt, Nos. 356, 372 ; 

 and Jebel Owebid, No. 971. 



Description of Figure. — PI. IX, Fig. 4, horizontal section 

 across some corallites, x 3 diam. 



Remarks. — The collection includes a series of massive specimens 

 of a coral, which has the long, narrow, crowded corallites of typical 

 Solenastr(Bce. It is only exceptionally that any septa are preserved, 

 a fact which suggests their possible cribriform nature. That the 

 septa are not cribriform may be proved by lateral examination of 

 the septa, which, however, is seldom possible. It is shown by 

 the section on PI. IX, Fig. 4. The figure does not show the 

 intense secondary mineralogical changes that have occurred in the 

 substance of the corallum. 



The coral has all the specific characters of Solenastrcea Turonensis 

 (Mich.). Locard^ has described a nearly allied Corsican coral as 

 Solenastrcea Peroni, which is said to diifer from S. Turonensis by the 

 smaller size of the corallites (diameter 1*5 mm. instead of 2 mm.) 

 and the less developed columella. The former difference is slight, 

 and the latter may be an accident of preservation, as in Cyphastrcea 

 septa and columella are so easily removed ; while Klunzinger's 

 figures of the Red Sea species shows that the columella varies 

 greatly in different corallites of the same corallum. . Thus, his 

 figure ^ of C. chalcidicum, Forsk., has no trace of columella in many 

 corallites, whereas it is fairly well developed in a few. The 

 Egyptian specimens agree with the typical forms of S. Turonensis in 

 the diameter of the corallites and with S. Peroni in the development 

 of the columella. 



1 G. Seguenza, " Cor. foss. terz. Messina," pt. ii: Mem. R. Accad. Sci. Torino, 

 ser. 2, vol. xxi (1864), p. Ill, pi. xiii, fig-. 3. For better figures see Vou Reuss, 

 " Foss. Kor. oster.-img. Mioc." : Denk. Akad. Wiss. "Wien, toL xxxi (1871), 

 p. 244, pi. xviii, fig. 2. 



2 A. Locard, " Descr. Faune Terr. Tart. Moy. Corse" (1877), p. 219, pi. vii, 

 figs. 0-7. 



^ C. B. Klunzinger, op. cit., pt. ii (1879), pi. v, fig. 8. 



