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DR. STANLEY SMITH OK AVLINA ROTIFORMIS, [vol. lxxii, 



A T II. Notes ox Cyathophyllum regium and on 



KONINCKOPHYLLVM SP. 



For description and figures of Cyathophyllum regium Phillips, 

 the ' Monograph on British Fossil Corals,' by Edwards & Hairne, 

 may he consulted, p. 180, pi. xxxii. It is merely necessary here to 

 point out one or two features of special interest in connexion with 

 the present discussion, some of which are not mentioned by those 

 authors. 



Although a thin wall of epitheca may separate the corallites, this 

 mural development is more often absent than present, and the 

 corallites are then united by their dissepimental tissue ; in some 

 cases, where there is no epitheca, the septa of one corallite do not 

 reach those of their neighbours. 



The coralla of G. regium are, like those of Aulina and Orion- 

 astrcea, characteristically depressed ; but to these there are some 

 interesting exceptions : attenuated cylindrical corallites are found 

 attached together into small groups of twos and threes, but other- 

 wise identical with C. murchisoni or C. stutchburyi (denoting by 

 these names the smaller and larger varieties of the solitary forms) ; 

 these link G. regium with the solitary ' species.' Even in such 

 forms as these the epitheca is generally absent at the junction of 

 two individuals. These Carboniferous species of Cyathophyllum 

 are distinguished by the gi'eat number and the correspondingly 

 slender nature of their septa ; and the epitheca, even in the simple 

 forms, is very thin. It is not surprising that it should disappear 

 altogether between contiguous corallites. 



[It may be observed that, in corals in which the number of septa 

 is small, these are stout, and the corallite is clothed by a thick epi- 

 theca (as, for example, Zaphrentis) ; but, where they are numerous 

 (as, for example, in Cyathophyllum murcJiisoni), they are slender, 

 and the epitheca is lightly developed.] 



The form KonincJcophyllum sp. was obtained by Mr. S. C. 

 Perceval from beds exposed in Rhododendron Walk, Blaize- Castle 

 Wood, Henbury, north of Bristol, the horizon of which was deter- 

 mined by Yaughan as the Subzone of Lonsdaleia floriformis, D 2 . 

 The specimens now in the British Museum (Natural History) — 

 R 16985-88, R 16991, and R 17066 — are in a very poor state of 

 preservation, and it is therefore advisable to defer the attribution 

 of a name to the species, or even a detailed description of it, until 

 more perfect material is forthcoming. 



The corallites measure about 1*5 cm. in diameter ; the septa are 

 numerous, but the minor series are much shorter than the major. 

 The tabulae are shallow concave diaphragms. Although the 

 corallites are not separated by epitheca, the septa are not confluent, 

 and the individual calices are distinct. 



