312 [Jan. 17, 



agreement in Dr. Morton's figure 10. (pi. i. Synopsis) with 

 Schweigger's Anthophyllum cyathus (Beobaclitungen, Tabular 

 Arrangement, vi.), particularly as given in Esper (Pflanzentliiere, 

 Madrep. tab. xxiv.) ; but the American fossil, when preserved in 

 its true position, clearly differs from the generic characters pro- 

 posed by Schweiggei", and adopted with various modifications by 

 succeeding authors, including Groldfuss. The Anthophyllum cya- 

 thus, as well as the corals typical of the four other divisions of 

 Schweigger's comprehensive genus, are lamelliferous throughout, 

 whereas the American fossil, as beautifully shown in one of the 

 Timber Creek specimens (a), consists of an upper lamelliferous por- 

 tion or nucleus,, and an inferior non-lamelKferous portion or hollow 

 inverted cone. 



This great peculiarity of structure apparently agrees with La- 

 mouroux's characters of his genus Montivaltia : " Polypier .... 

 presque pyriforme, compose de deux parties distinctes, I'inferieure 

 ridee transversalement ; la superieure presque aussi longue que 

 I'inferieure, . . . presque plane au sommet, legerement ombiliquee 

 et lamelleuse" (Exposition Methodique, p. 78.) ; and in his ob- 

 servations on the Caen specimens of Montivaltia he says, " elles 

 sont geodiques" (ibid.). This peculiar structure would agree 

 perfectly with the hollow inverted cone of the American coral, 

 and the characters of the " partie superieure legerement om- 

 biliquee et lamelleuse" accord well with the structure of the 

 lamelliferous portion. De Blainville (Man. d'Actinologie, p. 336.) 

 says, Lamouroux's figures are ^^ forte i7iexacte" but there is enough 

 of resemblance in them, particularly in figure 9. (Plate 79.) to 

 support a genei'ic agreement with the Timber Creek fossil, the 

 " partie inferieure, ridee transversalement," being represented in 

 the American specimens by the cast of the hollow cone, and the 

 higher extension of the envelope being considered only a specific 

 difference. Lamouroux's coral figured by Guettai'd (Mem. iii. 

 p. 466. pi. 26. f. 4, 5.), bvit named by De BlainviUe Montivaltia 

 Guettardi (De Bl. Man. d'Actinol. p. 336. ; see also Anthophyllum 

 Guettardi, p. 340.), bears even a closer resemblance to the Timber 

 Creek specimens. Guettard graphically compares it to a " cupule 

 de gland de chene." 



Dr. Morton, in his careful researches for analogous cretaceous 

 fossils, refers to Faujas St. Fonds's figures of Maestricht corals, 

 particularly to PI. xxxviii. f. 1. 5. (Hist. Nat. de la Mont, de St. 

 Pierre de Maestricht). Between those figures and the Amei'ican 

 coral there is a great general similarity ; but a rigid comparison 

 will show that there are important differences in the structural 

 details, particularly in the centre of the apparently lamelliferous 

 portion. The Maestricht fossils, or casts, are moreover wholly 

 siliceous ; and therefore, as they do not exhibit any traces of the 

 original lamellge, they cannot lead to the inference that the original 

 coral consisted of two distinct structures. It is most probable that 

 those casts represent only the terminal cup of an ordinary lamel- 

 liferous polypidom. It was the preservation of the lamellas in the 



