﻿374 
  Forty-seventh 
  Report 
  on 
  the 
  State 
  Museum, 
  

  

  moulded 
  about 
  the 
  minute 
  calcites 
  in 
  such 
  a 
  way 
  that 
  the 
  deter- 
  

   mination 
  of 
  which 
  is 
  really 
  the 
  innermost 
  of 
  the 
  layers 
  is 
  not 
  

   easy. 
  Certain 
  specimens 
  show, 
  however, 
  with 
  a 
  fair 
  degree 
  of 
  

   certainty 
  that 
  the 
  calcareous 
  layer 
  lies 
  between 
  the 
  two 
  layers 
  of 
  

   chitinous 
  matter, 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  fair 
  to 
  infer 
  that 
  the 
  crystalline 
  char- 
  

   acter 
  of 
  this 
  middle 
  layer 
  is 
  due 
  wholly 
  to 
  changes 
  concomitant 
  

   with, 
  or 
  subsequent 
  to 
  fossil 
  ization. 
  

  

  The 
  substance 
  of 
  the 
  walls 
  is 
  considerably 
  increased 
  in 
  thick- 
  

   ness 
  beneath 
  the 
  papilla 
  and 
  this 
  appears 
  to 
  be 
  due 
  largely 
  if 
  

   not 
  wholly 
  to 
  an 
  increase 
  in 
  the 
  thickness 
  of 
  the 
  calcareous 
  layer. 
  

  

  Micro-sections 
  give 
  no 
  satisfactory 
  evidence 
  of 
  spicules, 
  but 
  

   their 
  absence 
  may 
  be 
  explained 
  by 
  the 
  changes 
  to 
  which 
  the 
  

   calcareous 
  layer 
  of 
  the 
  wall 
  has 
  been 
  subjected. 
  From 
  what 
  can 
  

   thus 
  be 
  learned 
  of 
  these 
  fossils 
  there 
  is 
  good 
  reason 
  to 
  believe 
  

   that 
  Sir 
  William 
  Dawson's 
  suggestion 
  of 
  their 
  alcyonarian 
  

   character 
  is 
  the 
  correct 
  one. 
  In 
  exterior 
  they 
  resemble 
  the 
  living 
  

   Gorgonias, 
  Plexaurioides^ 
  Zophogorgia, 
  and 
  Seirpearella, 
  and 
  if 
  

   the 
  interior 
  differs 
  from 
  the 
  known 
  structure 
  of 
  any 
  living 
  

   Gorgonia 
  in 
  the 
  great 
  axial 
  canal 
  and 
  the 
  arrangement 
  of 
  its 
  

   component 
  walls 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  a 
  difference 
  incompatible 
  with 
  its 
  varia- 
  

   tions 
  occurring 
  in 
  this 
  respect 
  among 
  the 
  Gorgonidse. 
  We 
  thus, 
  

   probably, 
  have 
  represented 
  in 
  these 
  fossils 
  the 
  earliest 
  known 
  

   forms 
  of 
  this 
  family. 
  

  

  