166 H. G. CamitJiers — A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 



Although this is the only species originally associated with the 

 genus Caninia, no figure or description accompanies the first appearance 

 of the name.' The paragraph concerned (for which I am indebted to 

 Mr. W. D. Lang) runs as follows : — 



" Le genre Caninia de M. Michelin, Congrcs de Turin, 1840, est du groups des 

 caryophyllies unistellees ou isolees. Ses caractei'es sont : polypier pieiTeux, libre ou 

 fixe, subturbiue, simple, cylindrique, forme de cellules superposees (chaque cellule 

 garnie margiualemeut delamelles, quelquelois tres courtes et sinueuses " [quelquefois], 

 ' ' atteignant le centre, niais remarquable en ce qu'il est decomposable en petits conoides, 

 representant sans doute la succession des priucipales phases vitales du polype, et 

 s'emboitant les uns dans les autres en dehors et eu avant de I'axe central ; I'exterieur 

 est strie 



" C. cornii-copia, Mich. Espcce type de ce genre dedie au prince Ch. Bonaparte ; 

 elle n'a encore ete rencontree que dans des terrains de formation secondaire, a Sable 

 (Sartbe), eu Belgique, etc. II en a ete donne uue figure dans notre Atlas,'* ses 

 caracteres la rapprocbent des Amplexus, Sowerby." 



One of the localities (Sable) seems to be wrongly given, since it 

 does not accompany the fuller description of the species given later on 

 by Michelin. 



I have inserted the word 'quelquefois' in the above description, 

 since it appears to be required to make the paragraph intelligible. 



Two years later, de Ivoninck (Description des Animaux Fossiles, 

 etc., p. 22) described the coral under the name CyathophyUum mitratum 

 (Schlot.), remarking that the exterior is very smooth compared with 

 that of the majority of other species ; by an extraordinary mistake, 

 afterwards rectified by him, he at that time included CyatJtaxonia cornu 

 as a yoimg form of the species. The accompanying figures are poor, 

 though one of them (pi. C, fig. 5e) gives a good idea of the tabulce 

 seen in a broken specimen. 



Michelin's first description of his type species appeared in 1846 

 (Iconographie, p. 256). His diagnosis is generalized, but he noticed 

 that the fossula is deep and prolonged to the centre, and that the 

 coral, on being broken open, shows an almost complete succession of 

 "fissures infundibuliformes s'emboitant les unes dans les autres" 

 (this is very commonly found in examples from his locality, Tournai). 

 At the same time (loc. cit., p. 185) he described another species, 

 C. cornu-hovis, and refers to a figure of this new species having been 

 prepared for, but not published in, the Supplement to the Dictionnaire 

 des Sciences Naturelles for 1840. References to p. 485 of the Supple- 

 ment are given under the descriptions of both Caninia cortiucopioi and 

 C. cornu-hovis (although in reality the first mention of the latter 

 appears in the Iconographie). In the latter case, the words "pour le 

 genre " are added : this may mean either that one should look to the 

 Supplement for a description of the genus (which is not given in the 

 Iconographie), or that the generic description in the Supplement 

 should be regarded as a specific description of C. eormi-hovis. But 

 these are only matters for surmise, and since Caninia cornu-hovis is 

 only the adult form of C. corriucopice, and as C. cornucopiic was the 



^ Michelin in P. Gervais : article on Astraa, Diet. Sci. Nat., Suppl., I, 

 p. 485 (1840). 



"^ No figure is given in the Atlas, however ; this point ^vill be referred to immediately 

 ■when discussiu"- Michelin's diagnosis of C. cornu-bovis. 



