﻿Cryptozoon and other Ancient Fossils. 215. 



formations in which it has hitherto been found. In any 

 case it should be looked for in the Pre-canibrian beds. 



The latest attempt known to me to unravel the relations 

 of Eeceptaculites is that of Dr. Kauff in the Transactions 

 of the German Geological Society. He repeats and con- 

 firms the observations of Billings as to its structure, 

 differing only in rejecting the pores of the internal wall. 

 He also rightly concludes that it must have been a calca- 

 reous organism, and consequently cannot be referred to 

 any of the groups of silicious sponges ; but seems to regard 

 its systematic position as still quite uncertain. It may 

 possibly remain so, till either modern analogues, or more 

 ancient and simpler forms, shall be discovered. Eecepta- 

 culites and its allies are at present known as low as the 

 Lower Ordovician on the one hand, as high as the Carbon- 

 iferous on the other. 



Another primitive and apparently very generalised type 

 is the genus Archceocyathus of Billings, one of the oldest 

 and most curious Cambrian fossils. It deserves an addi- 

 tional notice here, in connection with facts and publications 

 of recent dates. 



As early as 1865 my attention was attracted to these 

 forms by specimens presented to me by Mr. Carpenter, a 

 missionary to Labrador, and about the same time Mr. 

 Billings was kind enough to shew me specimens which 

 had been obtained by Mr. Richardson of the Geological 

 Survey, in what was then known as the " Lower Potsdam " 

 of L'Anse a Loup in that region, and which he had 

 described in 1861 and 1864, stating that he was in doubt 

 whether they should be referred to corals or sponges 

 Slices of the specimens were made for the microscope, 

 when it appeared that, tliough they had the general aspect 

 of turbinate corals, like Petraia, etc., they were quite dis- 

 similar in structure, more especially in their porous inner 

 and outer walls and septa, yet they did not closely 

 resemble the porous corals, which besides were regarded as 



