156 PROF. W. 1ST. BENSON AND DR. S. SMITH O.N [vol. lxxix, 



7. On some Rugose Corals from the Burindi Seeies (Lower 

 Carboniferous) of New South Wales; together with a 

 Short Account of the Upper Palaeozoic Rocks of the 

 Area in which they were collected. By Prof. William 

 Noel Benson, B.A., D.Sc, F.C.S., and Stanley Smith, 

 MA., Disc, F.G.S. (Read June 14th, 1922.) 



[Plates VIII & IX.] 



Contents. 



I. Introduction 156 



II. The Upper Palaeozoic Rocks of North-Eastern New 



South Wales 157 



III. Amygdalophyllum 161 



IV. Cionodendron 165 



V. Lithostrotion 167 



I. Introduction. 



Homceomorphy, regarding both external form and internal struc- 

 tures, is exceeding!}*- common among Rugose Corals. Analogous 

 features may occur in unrelated genera living contemporaneously 

 in the same region or may be found reappearing in corals of 

 different stocks in widely separated regions and epochs. 



This paper describes two genera — Amygdalophyllum Dun & 

 Benson, and Cionodendron, gen. nov., from the Burindi Series 

 (Lower Carboniferous) of New South Wales ; it also includes a 

 few remarks concerning the species of Lithostrotion collected from 

 the same series (and from the equivalent horizon in Queensland). 



Amygdalophyllum and Cionodendron are related respectively 

 to the Carboniferous species of ' Cyathophyllum' 1 (JBalceosmilia) 

 Edwards & Haime, 1 and Lithostrotion ; but both corals are 

 characterized by an unusually large columella, as in Cyathaxonia. 

 Amygdalophyllum and Cionodendron illustrate a remarkable case 

 of parallelism. 



The Australian species of Lithostrotion show certain small 

 peculiarities of structure which distinguish them as a group from, 

 their British congeners. 



The described material, much of which has been collected by one 

 of us (W. N. B.), is the property of the Geological Surveys of 

 New South Wales and Queensland, and of the Australian Museum 

 (Sydney), and our thanks to these Institutions for the loan of the 

 small collection is cordially tendered. 



Before the corals are discussed, a short account is given of the 

 stratigraphical succession of the region in which they were found, 

 and our reasons are stated for correlating the Burindi Series with 

 the Visean of Europe. 



1 Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 3, vol. x (1848) p. 261. 



