200 DE. G. J. HI^^)E ox septaste^a, d'oebigxy (1849), 



17. Oil the HisTOET and Chaeaciees of tlie Genus Septasiejea, 

 D'Oebigxt (li^49), and the Idexiitt of its Type Species with 

 that o/ Gltphaste^:a, DuxcAX (1887). By Geoege Jexxixgs 

 Hinde, P1i.D., F.G.S. (Eead February s/lSSS). 



[Plate IX.] 



The circumstances which have given origin to the present paper are 

 as follows : — On December 1, 1886, Prof. P. M. Duncan, F.R.S., 

 read before the Society a paper entitled " On a new Genus of 

 Madreporaria — Glyphastrcea, with remarks on the Glyphastrcaa 

 Forbesi, Edw. & H., sp., from the Tertiaries of Maryland, Tj.S."*, 

 and exhibited specimens of the form described as the type of a new 

 genus. The statements made by this author and the characters 

 depicted on his diagrams did not appear to me to be borne out by 

 the corals exhibited, and I determined to find out for myself, by an 

 independent and thorough iuvestigation of all the specimens of the 

 form which could be obtained, whether the history and character of 

 the species, Septastroea Forbesi, Edw. & H., supported the description 

 given of it in the paper in question, and justified the removal of it 

 from the genus Septastrcea, in which it had been originally placed 

 by the French authors, to the new genus Glyphastrcea, proposed by 

 Prof. Duncan. 



The specimens which have been studied by me for the purposes 

 of this paper are : — first, the acknowledged type of Septastrcea 

 Forbesi in the collections of the British Natural History lluseum. 

 South Kensington, and several other examples of the same form 

 preserved with it ; also microscopic sections of the type form which, 

 at my request, the authorities of the British Museum kindly had 

 prepared ibr me to ascertain its internal structure ; secondly, two 

 beautifully preserved examples of the same species, belonging to the 

 Scarborough Museum, which have been lent to me through the kind 

 ofB.ces of Mr. C. Fox Strangways, F.G.S. ; thirdly, a specimen from 

 the Museum of the Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia, forwarded 

 to me by Prof. Angelo Heilprin, through Dr. C. A. White, of 

 Washington ; fourthly, the specimen labelled as Septastrcea Forbesi, 

 in the Museum of the Society : and, fifthly, the type specimen of 

 Columnaria (?) sexradiata, Lonsdale, now in the Museum of King's 

 College, London f. 



My investigations have led to the following conclusions, which I 

 may here state briefly, and the reasons for which will appear in 

 the sequel : — 1st. That Septastrcm Forbesi, E. & H., which Prof. 



* The abstract of the paper appeared in No. 495, Abstracts of the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Geol. Soc. of London, pp. 18, 19. The paper itself (materially 

 altered and added to subsequent to its reading before the Society) was published 

 in the Quart. Journ. G-eol. Soc. vol. sliii., Feb. 1887, pp. 24-32, pi. iii. 



t Through the kind permission of the Curator of the Museum, Prof. J. W. 

 Groves, F.L.S., to whom I am also indebted for haying a section made from 

 this specimen to allow of a comparison with that from S. Forbesi. 



