""8e.J CANADIAN PALEOZOIC CORALS. 53 



Syeingopora infundibula, Whitfield. 



Syringopora infundibula, Whitfield. 1877. Ann. Rept. Geol. Surv., Wis., p. 79. 

 Cystostylus infundibulus, Whitfield. 1882. Geol. of Wisconain, p. 274, pi. XIV., fig. 7. 

 Cystostylus infundibulus, Whiteaves. 1884. Palaoz. Foss. vol. III., pt. I., p. 2 and 1895, 

 pt. II., p. 49. 



Cystostylus infundibulus is described (op. cit.) as having " transverse 

 diaphragms represented only by deeply funnel-formed, imperfect plates 

 or cysts, appearing on the broken surface as a series of deep inverted 

 cones or funnels, placed one within the other so closely as to produce by 

 their united tubes au almost or quite continuous columella along the 

 centre of the corallite ; the cystose plates are never continuous around 

 the whole circumference, but are so closely arranged that from two to 

 four may be counted in a length equal to the diameter of the tube." 



The tabulfe in the corallites of Syringopora are generally stated to be 

 funnel-shaped. Nicholson, in the Palaeozoic Tabulate Corals, p. 208, 

 qualifies this by describing them as "well developed, usually more or less 

 regularly funnel-shaped, and often giving rise to a more or less continu- 

 ous tube occupying the axis of the visceral chamber." On p. 211 of the 

 same work excellent figures are given,of the corallites of S. reticulata, 

 Goldfuss (the type of the genus) as seen in longitudinal and horizontal 

 sections showing the inner structure. The tabulte are here shown to 

 be imperfectly funnel-shaped, as a rule not continuous round the inner 

 circumference of the corallites and to have their regularity broken at 

 times by the introduction of cysts or blisters such as are found in Cysti- 

 phyllum. The inner structure of the corallites, as shown in these figures, 

 is a fair example of what is to be found in most of the Palaeozoic species 

 of Syringopora in Canada. 



Judging from the figure appended to the description of Cystostylus 

 infundibulus, Whitfield, there is nothing in the structure of this coral, in 

 the writer's opinion, to necessitate its removal from the genus Syringo- 

 pora as generally understood. It is possible that Cystostylus infundi- 

 bulus may be found to be not distinct from S. verticillata, Goldfuss. 



The coral described by Prof. E.. P. Whitfield occurs in the upper part 

 of the Niagara group of Wisconsin, in the vicinity of Wauwatosa and 

 Milwaukee. It is stated to have been found only in the solid limestone, 

 the inner structure being revealed on fractured surfaces but the exterior 

 surface of the corallites has not been seen. 



In specimens of this species from the Guelph formation at Durham, Ont., 

 the coral is preserved in a manner similar to that of the Wisconsin speci- 

 mens. The general disposition of the corallites with their connecting 

 tubes is well shown, as is also the inner structure. 



