ALCYONAEIA OF SIND. 23 



They distinguished the typical characters in the Astrcea Wehsteri of Bowerbank, 

 or Sider astrcea of Lonsdale, a fossil found in the Bracklesham-Bay series. A dendroid 

 form was described by them from the Miocene of Dax ; a convex and free species, the 

 old Astrcea crista of Michelin, was noticed from the Lower Eocene of Cuise-la-Motte ; 

 and a. most interesting one was alluded to as having been found, with a well-developed 

 and stoutly folded epitheca, in the Upper Chalk of Maestricht. 



It is evident that, as in most compound corals, there was much diversity of growth, 

 and that convex, free, and epithecated kinds could come within the generic diagnosis. 



Since the publication of the ' Hist. Nat. des CoralL' many species have been added 

 to those there noticed, and the genus stands as a good one. 



Eeuss has described a species [Litharoea affinis) from the Tertiaries of Java* ; 

 DAchiardi has noticed it amongst the Eocene at Friulif ; and a well-marked form 

 was described from the Oligocene deposit at Brockenhurst %. Eecent species are not 

 known. 



1. LiTHAE^A EPiTHECATA, Bimcan. Plate II, Figs. 1-9. 



The corallum is circular in outline, broad, short, more or less convex above and 

 flat or concave inferiorly, where there is a well-developed epitheca marked with concen- 

 tric grooves and elevations. 



The calices are rather irregular in shape, and are usually hexagonal in outline ; 

 they are close, and but little trabeculate wall is between them. Widely open, they are 

 shallow ; and whilst large and subequal on the greater part of the corallum, they are 

 smaller and of different sizes close to the thin rim of the full-grown coralla. There 

 are three cycles of septa ; all are distant, ragged, not over straight, with enlargements 

 and points on their sides, and incised, and bluntly crenulate or moniliform, on the free 

 edge ; they are trabeculate near the wall, and are united within by trabeculae here and 

 there. The septa are slender and long ; the primaries and secondaries are subequal ; 

 the tertiaries join the secondaries, being curved. 



The columella is small, and is composed of distant and contorted trabeculae. 



Beneath the epitheca, the lower edges of the septa and trabeculae form a close 

 radial series, which simulates a costal arrangement. A small central projection occurs 

 on the base, indicating the position of the first calice above. 



Diameter of the largest specimen 3 inches; thickness of the largest specimen 

 -Yo inch. 



Breadth of central calices ^ inch ; breadth of marginal calices yq inch. 



Locality. Jakhmari, Laki range, south-west of Amri. Survey-number G xfy. 



Position. In beds with Cardita Beaumonti. 



Numerous specimens exist of this very characteristic form, and they were found of 

 many dimensions. In all the basal epitheca is a most striking feature ; and, except 

 when altered by fossilization, the trabecular walls and septa are sufficient to distin- 



* A. E. Eeuss, 'Possile Korallen von der Insel Java' (Novara Exped.). 



t D'Achiardi, ' Coralli Eocenici' (Pisa, 1875). 



t P. M. Duncan, ' Supp. Brit. Poss. Corals,' Pal. Soc. Lond. vol. xix. 



