1873.] dtotcAn — genus palji:ocoryne. 413 



con/ne, a genus of Tubularine Hydrozoa from the Carboniferous 

 formation." 



In 1872 Dr. Allman (Monograph of the Hydroida, Eay Society, 

 vol. ii. pp. 172 & 173) criticised the zoological position we had 

 assigned to the fossil, and, whilst expressing his satisfaction con- 

 cerning the manner in which it had been described and delineated, 

 gave also his reasons for not including Palceocoryne amongst the 

 Hydroida. 



Some of these reasons, which are stated with Dr. Allman's usual 

 clearness and force, had occurred to us during the difficult task of 

 assigning a classificatory position to the form ; and we wrote (op. cit. 

 p. 695), " "Were it not for the calcareous investment, there woidd 

 be no difficulty in admitting the fossil amongst the Hydrozoa : and 

 had we not been able to avail ourselves of the affinities of the very 

 anomalous genus Bimeria ("Wright), the difficulty could hardly have 

 been overcome." 



Lately Mr. R. Etheridge, jun., F.Gr.S., of the Geological Survey of 

 Scotland, has forwarded to me a great number of fragmentary speci- 

 mens of Palceocoryne derived from the lower Carboniferous shales. 



These specimens explain certain points of anatomy upon which 

 there was some doubt, and also testify to the correctness of the 

 published descriptions. I have therefore again carefully examined 

 into the whole question of the structures and affinities of the form, 

 and now offer some important additional facts which may influence 

 the decision of palaeontologists with regard to the zoological position 

 of this very anomalous form. 



The fossils, specimens of which are very numerous, are found 

 associated in the shales with Fenestellce, Crinoidea, and Brachiopoda. 

 Usually they are attached by a dactylose pseudo-cellular base to the 

 margins of the polyzoaria of Fenestellce. The cells of the base 

 communicate, and appear to have a distinct reference to the in- 

 equalities of the surface on which it rests. They are covered by a 

 calcareous investment, which contracts as the base increases in 

 height and is continued upwards in the form of a cylindrical stem, 

 which is faintly enlarged in its middle portion, and which is sur- 

 mounted by a symmetrical expansion resembling in position, and 

 somewhat in appearance, the capital of a pillar. 



The erect stem and capitulum arc about T l - to ^ inch in height. 

 They were originally hollow, and their cavity was continuous with 

 that of the base. A whorl of elongated and tapering cylindrical 

 processes is given off from the upper margin of the capitulum ; and 

 each process is hollow. The processes open by their cavities into 

 the cavity of the capitulum near its upper part. The upper surface 

 of the capitulum thus surrounded is in some specimens projected to 

 form a slight crateriform opening, or mctastome, which leads down 

 to the cavity within. The calcareous investment of the stem and 

 capitulum is continued on to the processes, and is elegantly orna- 

 mented throughout with grooves, lines, serrations, pits, small spinules 

 and granulations. The grooves and linear ornamentation are longi- 

 tudinal both on the tentacular processes and on the stem ; and the 



VOL. XXIX. PART I. 2 E 



