552 JR. F. Tomes — Some Cretaceous Madreporaria. 



Beaumontia Egertoni. Edw. and Haime, Monogr. Polyp. Foss. Terr. 

 Pal^oz. p. 276, 1857, Brit. Foss. Cor. pt. iii. p. 160, tab. xlv. 

 fig. 1, 1852. 



A large compound tabulate coral is sometimes met with in the 

 coprolite beds of the Upper Greensand of Cambridge, which may be 

 mentioned here, although there can be no doubt that it is a derived 

 fossil, and from the Carboniferous Limestone, At present I know it 

 only from the examination of a fragment struck oif a mass of con- 

 siderable size, and lent to me by my friend the Eev. P. B, Brodie. 

 The internal structure has been well retained, and the nature of the 

 tabulge is very clearly observable. It is undoubtedly referable to the 

 Favositoid genus Beaumontia, and the remblance to Beaumontia 

 Egertoni is so great, that it may be unhesitatingly referred to it. 

 Compared with other species of the genus, the present may be dis- 

 tinguished by the very slight degree of convexity of its tabulai. It 

 was described by MM. Milne Edwards and Haime from a specimen 

 in the collection of the Geological Society, which was obtained by 

 Sir P. Egerton from the Mountain Limestone of Sracrapagh, Ireland. 



It is not without some interest to the geologist that the Cretaceous 

 formation of this country is now found to have a greater resemblance 

 in its Coral fauna to that of the Continent, than has been heretofore 

 believed. Prof. Duncan has made known in his Supplement to tbe 

 History of British Fossil Corals, and subsequently in the Quarterly 

 Journal of the Geological Society, some genera and species of Corals 

 from the Upper Greensand of Haldon and other localities, which 

 indicate a nearer relationship between the English Coraliferous beds 

 of the Cretaceous formation and those of the Continent than had been 

 supposed. In the latter publication he concludes a paper on the 

 Coral fauna of Haldon by the observation that it " appears to be the 

 Northern expression of that of the French and Central-European 

 deposits, which are the equivalents of the British Upper Greensand." 

 The occurrence of such genera as Ceratotroclms, Pleurosviilia, Bary- 

 smilia, Bhizangia and Zeptophyllia, now for the first time made 

 known as occurring in the English Cretaceous beds, tends to ap- 

 proximate them still more closely with those of the Continent. 



(The foregoing paper was read at the meeting of the Geological 

 Society on the 24th of June, but was withdrawn by the author with 

 the consent of the Council. It is now printed verbatim with figures 

 by Mr. C. Berjeau of the specimens exhibited at that meeting.) 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIV. 



Fig. 1. Smiloirochus calcaratus. The corallum. Natural size. 



,, 2. Jb. 'I'he corallum of another specimen. Natural size. 



,, 3. lb. The corallum of a young example. Natm-al size. 



,, 4, lb. The calice of No. 1. Much magnified. 



,, 5, lb. The spur of the same specimen. Much magnified, and showing the 

 costa3. 



,, 6, Ceratotrochus insiffnis. A vertical section of the corallum. Much magni- 

 fied and showing the spongy columella. 



,, 7. Bhizangia mamilliforniis. Three corallites united hy the stolon. Magnified. 



,, 8. Jb. Two corallites similarly united. One of them being very little worn 

 shows the denticulations of the septa. Magnified about half a diameter. 



