1848.] LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 83 



or abraded portions of the latter showed as httle of the real nature of 

 the intervals between the visceral cavities, as the delineations in the 

 * Iconographie Zoophytologique ;' and such surfaces would not excite 

 even a suspicion that certain lamellge ranged from one star to another, 

 or that they were cellular. The transverse laminse in the vertical 

 delineation of the French coral (op. cit. pi. 26. fig 1 a) differed in 

 dimension only from those shown in cut sections of the Atherfield 

 fossil (fig. 13), and the vertical edges of the lamellae are about as di- 

 stinctly marked in fig. 1 a {op, cit.) as in weathered internal portions of 

 lower greensand specimens. The rays faintly, and no doubt faithfully 

 represented in M. Michelin's figure 1 b, are more numerous than in 

 the English species, but they are possibly not thinner than the four 

 attenuated edges already mentioned ; it is moreover impossible to 

 surmise what might be the number of converging plates, or the amount 

 of range, under particular conditions of growth. The lamelloe of 

 Heliopora ccBrulea are almost rudimentary during the upward deve- 

 lopment of the abdominal cavity, but on the latter attaining appa- 

 rently its final extension, they stretch across the whole area, meeting 

 in the centre. M. Goldfuss says that from six to eight plates of 

 Ast. alveolata project beyond the others ; but the edges are blunt, 

 from abrasion probably, the usual state of those in Atherfield speci- 

 mens. The number of protruded lamellae, as well as the relative 

 amount of range under equal stages of growth, should however be 

 regarded only as specific distinctions, and in nomse opposed to generic 

 identity. Additional cavities within the circuit of the English fossil 

 were invariably interpolated ; and such was most probably the case in 

 the French coral. The agreements just noticed are few ; nevertheless, 

 in CyathopJiora Richardi no structure has been detected which does 

 not exist in the British zoophyte. It is therefore proposed to adopt 

 rprovisionally M. Michelin's generic name with the specific term 

 ! elegans, that the connexion with the original announcement in the 

 ■ Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society may be evident. Should 

 however palaeontologists hereafter show that the French coral differs 

 in the unascertained portions from the English, it is suggested that 

 the latter might be designated Holocystis (6\os, totus, KV(7rii,, vesica), 

 from its being wholly composed of bladder-like cells. In a systematic 

 arrangement, the genus, by whatever name it may be distinguished, 

 should be totally removed from the family or order in which Astraea 

 is placed, and assigned to that which contains the many-lamellated, 

 non-fissiparous groups. 



Cyathophora? elegans, n. sp. 

 (Plate IV. fig. 12 to 15.) 



Spec. char. — Incrusting, also hemispherical, globular or amorphous j 

 abdominal canities small, very numerous, polygonal or circular, 

 margin not raised; interior of cavities formed of lamellae-edges; 

 bottom of cavities a slightly convex lamina, inferior or deserted 

 portion occupied by transverse, irregular, bladder-like cells : in- 

 terspaces between the cavities narrow, composed of outward exten- 



g2 



