134 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Apr. 6, 



Asti'cea being the only genus which has ascertained representatives on 

 the coasts of the West Indies. Not one of the Nivaje fossils could 

 be identified with a described existing species of the genera to which 

 they are believed to belong. 



Tufaceous Limestone. — The corals believed to belong to this de- 

 posit are limited to five, and one of them, a fine specimen of Caryo- 

 phyllia, is doubtfully labelled " Cerro Gordo " ; but the attached 

 matrix seems to be tufaceous limestone, and the fossil, though very 

 liable to injury from friction, bears no signs of having been drifted. 

 Only three of the five corals have been positively assigned to described 

 genera, one of the others being possibly allied to the Mussce gyrosce, 

 and the actual composition of the fifth has not been ascertained 

 further than would admit of its being referred to the family AstrceidcB. 



The three established genera are Dichoccenia, Caryophyllia, and 

 Astrcea. The first does not appear to have any published fossil spe- 

 cies, but a living one occurs on the coast of Cuba ; Caryojihyllia, as 

 lately restricted by M. Milne-Edwards and M. Jules Haime, pos- 

 sesses two living West Indian species, with one tertiary, Cary. Bas- 

 teroti, found at Dax ; and a comparison of its characters, given in the 

 ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles ' by the palaeontologists just cited, 

 with the structures exhibited by the St. Domingo coral, has led to the 

 inference that the two fossils are essentially distinct. As regards the 

 Astrcea, no identification could be established with any one of the nine 

 tertiary species before mentioned. With reference to the recent Di- 

 chocoenice, Caryophyllice, and Astrcece found in the West Indies or 

 elsewhere, no specific agreement with the "tufaceous" fossils could 

 be effected by means of a comparison with published descriptions. 



In conclusion, it may be stated, that the whole of the St. Domingo 

 corals being considered distinct from those with which a comparison 

 has been instituted, — and the inquiry has not been limited to any par- 

 ticular division of the supra-cretaceous series, — no definite inference 

 can be drawn from them respecting the relative geological position of 

 the Nivaje shale and the tufaceous limestone. 



2. On the Series of Upper Palaeozoic Groups in the Boulon- 



NAis. By Robert A. C. Austen, Esq., F.R.S., Sec. G.S. 



\yide infra, ^. 231.] 



April 6, 1853. 



John Mainwaring Paine, Esq., was elected a Fellow. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. On the Granitic District o/Inverary. By The Duke of 

 Argyll, F.G.S. &c. &c. 



[The publication of this Paper is postponed.] 



