GUELPH FAUNA IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK 23 



FAUNA OF THE GUELPH DOLOMITE IN WESTERN 



NEW YORK 



ANTHOZOA 



TETRACORALLA (HEXACORALLA?) 



zaphbentis Rafinesque. 1820 

 Zaphrentis cf. racinensis Whitfield 



Plate 1, fi(j. 2, 3 



Cf. Zaphrentis racinensis Whitfield, Geology of Wisconsin. 1882. 4:277, 

 pi. 14, fig. 1, 2 



Four casts of the interior of the calyx of a supposedly turbinate coral 

 were found among the Rochester material, one of which had been identified 

 by Mr Arey with Zaphrentis racinensis. We have a few speci- 

 mens also from the upper horizon at Shelby. Professor Whiteaves records * 

 that he had corals from various Canadian localities in a similarly poor state 

 of preservation, and these he regarded as possibly identical with Z. raci- 

 nensis Whitf. That species itself was founded on internal casts of cups 

 only, from the Racine limestone, and, while our specimens show the same 

 number of septal impressions as those and also agree therewith in the 

 development of the septal fossette and the mode of contraction of the cali- 

 cular cavity, they uniformly attain only about half the size of Z. racinen- 

 s i s, the latter having a calyx twice as deep as that from Rochester. 

 While it would be hazardous to identify these corals from such casts only, 

 dissimilarity in size does not impugn their usefulness for correlation. It is 

 not probable that the casts represent specimens of Z. (P o 1 y d i 1 a s m a) 

 turbinata Hall, 2 from the Lockport limestone of New York, as that 

 species is characterized by the duplication of its septa about the outer walls 

 and the abrupt depression of the cup about half way from the outer margin 

 to the center, which would give to the casts a cylindric interior and a saucer- 

 shaped superior part. 



1 Op. cit. 1895. p. 49. 



3 Pal. N. Y. 1852. 2: 112, pi. 32, fig. 2a-h. 



