42 



P. M. DUNCAN ON THE ECHINODERMATA OF THE 



4. On the Echinodermata of the Australian Cainozoic (Tertiary) 

 Deposits. By P. Martin Duncan, M.B. Lond., E.R.S., Pres. 

 Geol. Soc, Professor of Geology in King's College, London. 

 (Read May 10, 1876.) 



[Plates III. & IV.] 

 Contents. 



I. Introduction. 

 II. List of Species and their Localities. 



III. Description of the new Species. 



IV. List of the Fossil and Recent 



Genera. 



V. Lists of Specific Alliances. 

 VI. Remarks on the Species. 

 VII. Conclusions. 



I. Introduction. 



When the Cainozoic or so-called Tertiary deposits of Australia 

 were found to be fossiliferous in some parts, great interest was 

 excited respecting the possibility of the Echini being able to afford 

 satisfactory evidence regarding the geological age of the strata in 

 relation to the European types. It was hoped that the fossils of this 

 great group would present some of the anomalies which characterize 

 almost every class of organism found in the great distributional 

 province ; and it was thought to be probable that relics of very 

 ancient forms would be discovered. But the number of species of 

 Echini which were found in the marine deposits beneath the older 

 basalt was small ; and at the commencement of their study the 

 amount of knowledge of the living Echinodermal fauna of the 

 coasts and neighbouring seas was not great ; consequently disap- 

 pointment ensued. Year by year more specimens of the fossil 

 Echini have been discovered, and careful collecting has produced 

 many with their ornamentation wonderfully preserved ; and, con- 

 temporaneously, the labours of Gray, Agassiz, and others, increased 

 our knowledge of the recent Australian fauna. 



Of necessity, therefore, the literature of the fossil Echini of 

 Australia is scanty ; and those palaeontologists who have contributed 

 to it have only paid attention to the relation of the forms to those 

 of other geological ages, and neglected to consider the affinities with 

 the existing fauna. 



The principal contribution to the Echini of the Australian Ter- 

 tiaries is that of Laube, " Ueber einige fossile Echiniden von den 

 Murray cliffs in Siid-Australien," in the ' Sitzungsberichte der ma- 

 thematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie 

 der Wissenschaften zu Wien,' 1869, p. 183. He described several 

 species new to science, and established two new genera. The species 

 noticed were Psammechinus Woodsi, Catopygus elegans, Echino- 

 lampas ovulum, Micraster brevistella, Eupatagus Wrighti, E. murray- 

 ensis and Hemipatagus Forbesi ; and the new genera were Para- 

 doxechinus, species P. novus, and Monostychia, species M. australis. 



