340 Prof. P. Martin Duncan— A Neiv Oolitic Coral 



others having smooth, even surfaces, in some cases most of the rods 

 are provided with frills, whilst in others there is only about one in 

 ten or. twenty with them. In the recent Jlyalonema mirabile some 

 of the spicular rods are also provided with projecting spiral fringes 

 of a similar character to those in the fossil form, but when perfect 

 the frills are armed with minute spines. 



At present, definite hexactinellid spicules have not been found in 

 the same strata with H. fasciculus, but this negative fact can hardly 

 be employed as an argument against the sponge-character of the 

 spicular bundles. As these latter were, in the life-time of the sponge 

 itself, imbedded in the muddy bottom of the ocean, they were not 

 liable to be disturbed and dispersed after the death of the animal, in 

 the same manner as those of the body of the sponge, and this same 

 fact will also account for the preservation of the ropes or bundles of 

 spicules with their constituent spicular rods in their natural positions. 



The specimen discovered by Dr. Hicks in the Tremadoc rocks of 

 Wales thus establishes the presence of siliceous hexactinellid sponges 

 with anchoring appendages of bundles of spicular rods, at this 

 horizon, and the same species also occurs at Trefil and at Pont Ladies 

 in the Llandeilo rocks. 



Allied species of Hyalostelia are recorded by Nicholson 1 and 

 Etheridge from Ordovician strata in the Girvan area ; by Prof. Ferd. 

 Eoemer 2 fromLyckholm strata (= Bala) in Esthland, and in the drift 

 of Sadewitz ; 3 and they are very abundant in Lower Carboniferous 

 beds in Scotland, Ireland, and Yorkshire. 



The genus Hyalostelia, in which the Pyritonema fasciculus, M'Coy, 

 is now placed, was proposed by Zittel 4 to include sponges, with an 

 upper portion of regular hexactinellid spicules and an anchoring 

 appendage of elongated spicular rods. 



In conclusion mention may be made that Dr. Hicks has presented 

 his original specimen to the British Natural History Museum. 



II. — On a New Species of Axosmilia (A. elongata) from the 



Pea Grit of the Inferior Oolite of England. 



By Professor P. Martin Duncan, M.B. (Lond.), F.E.S., etc. 



MANY years since, Mr., now Prof., Ealph Tate gave me a small 

 slender coral, which he had obtained from the Pea Grit of the 

 "West of England. I had just completed the Supplement to the 

 British Fossil Corals, Pal. Soc, so the fossil has remained undescribed. 



It has lately been determined to publish a new edition of the late 

 Prof. J. Morris's Catalogue of British Fossils, and therefore, in order 

 to render the Madreporarian part of that work as complete as is 

 possible, I have studied and now describe the species. 



The specimen is well preserved, except in the calice, but the 

 deficiency is compensated by an excellent section close below. 



The narrow peduncle of the form has been broken from its attach- 

 ment, and there are no structures which denote that the form was 



1 Mon. Sil. Fos. Girvan, fasc. ii. p. 239, pi. xix. figs. 1-16. 

 3 Lethsea palaeozoica, 1880, p. 318. 

 3 Foss. Fauna von Sadewitz, p. 55, pi. vii. figs, la, lb, 

 1 Handbuch der Pal. vol. i. p. 185. 



