﻿578 ME. A. WILMOKE ON THE CARBONIFEKOTJS [Nov. I9IO, 



The great French actinologists, A. Milne Edwards & J. Haime, 

 described Syringopora in their two important works (' Polyp. Foss. 

 des Terr. Palseoz.' Paris, 1851, vol. v, Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., and 

 ' Monograph of the British Fossil Corals ' pt. iii, 1852, Palaeonto- 

 graphical Society). 



In the former work they gave a revised diagnosis of the genus, 

 and in the following discussion they called special attention to 

 the septa : — 



' II est moins facile de s'assurer de la presence des cloisons, qui le plus souvent 

 sont completement detruites, et jusqu'a present aucim auteur n'en a fait 

 mention ; aussi ce genre a-t-il ete regard e comme voisin des Tubipores, et par 

 consequent comme faisant partie de l'ordre des Alcyonaires. Pourtant, nous 

 avons observe de la maniere la plus nette, chez un grand nombre d'exemplaires 

 bien conserves, des traces non equivoques de l'appareil septal.' (Pp. 285-86.) 



They recognize the following Carboniferous species : — distans, 

 parallela, ramulosa, reticulata, geniculate, conferta, and laoca. Of 

 these, I submit that parallela may be included in reticulata or 

 distans, conferta with reticulata, and laxa with ramulosa. 



In the British Monograph there is an excellent example of what 

 I understand the ramulosa of Goldfuss to be (pi. xlvi, figs. 3 & 3 c). 

 Dichotomous branching is shown very well, and there are few 

 connecting-tubes (see Goldfuss's original description). 



In 1851 M'Coy re-introduced another species, S. catenata 

 (Martin), and also gave descriptions of some of the other recognized 

 Carboniferous species (' Brit. Palaeoz. Foss. ' p. 83). His descrip- 

 tion of S. catenata (Mart.) reads as follows : — 



' Corallum forming large masses of nearly equal, subparallel, very slightly 

 diverging tubes, averaging half a line in diameter and about their diameter 

 apart, connected by nearly equal, transverse tubuli, slightly more than the 

 diameter of the tubes apart, the origin of each producing a slight angular 

 flexuosity in the main tube ; tubular central opening rather large.' 



This seems to be a small form of reticulata, and there does not 

 appear to be anything in the diagnosis given by M'Coy that is 

 incompatible with the inclusion of 8. catenata l in the JS. reticulata 

 of Goldfuss. 



In discussing S. ramulosa, M'Coy (loc. cit.) refers to the mode of 

 branching as resembling ' dichotomous fission,' and points out that 

 the parent and the young are of nearly equal size and almost equally 

 deflected from the original direction. This is more in keeping with 

 the original description of Goldfuss than is the description of Phillips. 



M'Coy, in describing S. reticulata, mentions funnel-shaped 

 diaphragms, and also connecting tubuli arising in irregular 

 whorls. These points are of importance, as the latter was 

 expressly referred to by Phillips as a distinguishing characteristic 

 in S. genieulata, and many small reticulate forms have nearly 

 horizontal rather than funnel-shaped tabulae. 



We now come to L. G. de Koninck's important work ' Nouvelles 

 Eecherches sur les Anim. Foss. du Terr. Carb. de la Belgique,' 



1 Martin's name in 1809 would be Erismatholitus (Tubiporites) catenatus. 



