14 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



not be reached at once, the accumulation of facts will finally clear 

 up their true nature. We can do no better than to refer the reader 

 to the elaborate and thorough discussion of the possible nature of 

 the three species of Buthotrephis (op. cit., p. 268-70), stating merely 



Fig. 4 Inocaulis lesquereuxi ( Grote & Pitt) . Type 



1 1460 



specimen (No. of •Museum Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sci.) x J6 



E975 



that the author rejects the view held by many paleontologists that 

 the fossils were sponges and arrives at the conclusion that, while 

 the reference of the forms from the Eurypterid beds to the algae 

 can not be conclusively demonstrated, since neither the histology 

 nor the fructification is known, yet he believes them to be such, 

 mainly on account of the following three circumstances which' point 

 toward a place for these types among the marine algae: (a) the 

 marine habitat; (b) the typically algoid form of development and 

 growth; and (c) the aspect of the residue. It is specially pointed 

 out that the Codium group of the Siphonous Chlorophyceae (green 

 algae) contains types, which would seem calculated, under favorable 

 circumstances of fossilization, to present characters of form, 

 aspect, and carbonaceous texture similar to and perhaps essentially 

 the same as those of Buthotrephis. While this author considers a 

 reference of the three species of Buthotrephis to the sponges as 



