1848.] LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 97 



published list. No. 13. (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. iii. p. 302) 

 under the term Heteropora ; and the mistake was not detected till 

 the describer was favoured, through Dr. Fittou, with the Atherfield 

 pol^^paria in the Museum of the Geological Society of London. In 

 that collection a branch of Clioristopetalum impar was labelled ' Hete- 

 ropora.' The specimen of the coral about to be considered, and 

 which forms a portion of Dr. Fitton's private cabinet, was imbedded 

 in the same mass of sandstone as the fine example of Siphodictyiim 

 gracile mentioned in the preceding notice. 



The fossil consists of cylindrical, forked branches (fig. 24), occa- 

 sionally anastomosed ; the exterior (imperfectly preserved) has round 

 apertures (fig. 25) irregularly distributed over the whole surface, and 

 variable in character according to age, and, in the specimen examined, 

 to the state of preservation ; the general surface is also modified by 

 external additions ; secondary or minor apertures are detectable occa- 

 sionally near the large openings : internally the coral is composed of 

 elongated simple tubes, more or less separated by an open interspace 

 or fissure (fig. 26). These characters must be regarded as very im- 

 perfect indications of the fossil's structure ; the surface of the speci- 

 men being so incrusted with matrix, that it was impossible to obtain 

 satisfactory evidence of external composition. 



If the portions with slightly projecting tubular apertures were con- 

 sidered as presenting a mature, characteristic condition, the Atherfield 

 coral might be referred to the Pustulopora of M. de Blainville*, 

 especially as exhibited in P. madreporacea (Goldf. pi. 10. fig. 12) 

 and P.pustidosa (pi. 11. fig. 3), but in those fossils no open space 

 or line of separation between the visceral tubes is either delineated or 

 alluded to under any condition ; nor are secondary openings or irre- 

 gular thickenings noticed or represented. M. de Blainville states 

 that the tubes or "cellules" are "peu saillantes, pustuleuses ou ma- 

 melonnees" {pp. cit. p. 418) ; but M. Milne-Edwards f describes an 

 existing Mediterranean species, P . proboscidea (op. cit. pi. 12. fig. 2), 

 with projecting, free extremities " exactement comme chez les Tubu- 

 lipores" {op. cit. p. 27). The lower greensand fossil had not, it is 

 believed, at any time free, protruding, visceral tubes similar to those 

 represented by M. Edwards {loc. cit.), with a simple, tubular extre- 

 mity in the most advanced stage, but in a mature state, a pustulous 

 aperture developed at that particular period of growth. The author of 

 this notice is indebted to the liberality of Prof. Edward Forbes for two 

 specimens of a Mediterranean coral agreeing perfectly with M. Ed- 

 wards's figure, but differing most materially from that found at 

 Atherfield. Two new extinct species, described and figured in the 

 memoir above-quoted {op. cit. pi. 11. fig. 4, pi. 12. fig. 1), agree in 

 general composition with P. proboscidea ; and if the inquiry be ex- 



* Man. d'Actinol. p. 418 : see Goklfuss's delineations of the four species of Cerio- 

 porae, on which the genus is founded, Petref. pi. 10. fig. 12. fig. 8, and pi. 11. 

 fig. 3. fig. 1. 



t Ann. des Sc. Nat., 2nd series, Zool., tome ix., Mem. sur les Crisies, &c., or 

 Recherches sur les Polypes, &c. 



VOL. V. PART I. H 



