ALCYONARIA OF SIND. 41 



occupies much of the fossa of the calice, and in worn specimens especially. The .minute 

 columella aborts frequently, or is lost in fossilization, being rarely perfectly preserved. 

 Sometimes there is the trace of a groove between the calicos. 



Height of corallum yo ^^^^ '> length many inches. Length of calices rather under 

 j^ inch. 



Locality. Jhirk, Eanikot group. Survey-number G -f- 



80 



2 4a" 



Illustrations of the Species in Plate XV. 



Fig. 14. A part of the corallum. 



15. Calices : magnified. 



16. A calice vpith an aborted columella : magnified. 



Genus ASTROCCENIA, M. Ed. ^ J. H., amended. 



1. AsTEOccEDiA BLAifFOEDi, Duncan. Plate XV, Figs. 1-5. 



There are some very remarkable corals in the Eanikot group of the Sind Tertiaries 

 belonging to the genus Astrocoenia, vs^hich are circular at their concave and epithecate 

 base, and which are produced upwards in the shape of a stump or stalk; others 

 have a convex upper surface, and some are intermediate. The calices in all are 

 large, and the septal number is ten, any addition being rare and, in fact, doubtful. 

 The growth of the corals is at the circular edge of the corallum ; but every now and 

 then a bud is formed on the united margins of three or four calices. In some there 

 is a disposition to show the Styloccenian peculiarity; but it is a matter of normal 

 growth, and not of the development of aborted buds with costse on them. The 

 stalk is the remains of the young coral, which has grown more in height than in basal 

 breadth. 



The type of this little group of the genus is- Astrocoenia Blanfordi, and the follow 

 ing is the description : — 



The corallum is large, circular at the base-edge, where it is thin and crowded with 

 small calices ; the upper surface of the corallum slants upwards and inwards without 

 greatly increasing the thickness until the " stalk " is reached, and this is cylindro-conical 

 and slightly bent. All the upper surface and the stalk are covered with subequal hexa- 

 gonal, rounded, and irregular-shaped calices. The base is concave, and has a dense 

 epitheca showing circular folds, ridges, and depressions, the costse being barely visible. 



The calices, when hexagonal, have four sides larger than the other two, and are not 

 deep. The intercalicular space is narrow, and has on it a wavy ridge, on which the 

 septa of neighbouring calices sometimes unite. 



The columella is small, free above, styloid, and sometimes elongate in the direction 

 of the long axis of the calices, but usually it is nearly circular in outline. 



The septa are ten in number, nearly equal, small, slightly toothed, narrow, and 

 wide apart ; they are not exsert, but dip down at once into the calice, not filling it 

 much ; and two often unite before reaching the columella. All the others reach the 

 columella, which in some calices has a kind of swelling or collar, just above the septal 



G 



