8 Beecher — Ohservations on the Genus Romingeria. 



Formation and locality. — In the clierty layers of the Cor- 

 niferous limestone (Devonian), near Leroj, Genesee County, 

 New York. 



Homing eria nihior, sp. no v. 

 Plate V, Figures 3, 6-9. 



Besides the species already noted, there is another form in 

 the present collection, which, though minute, seems to agree 

 in all essential external generic features with the genotype. 

 Onl}^ a few umbels of this species have been observed, but 

 they are so constant in their characters and so distinct from the 

 other species, that there is little hesitancy in describing them 

 as new. 



The corallites are cylindrical, measuring but '3 to '4™°^ in 

 diameter. The umbels contain five buds each. The buds are 

 contiguous to the parent for a distance of -5"^"', and then turn 

 out abruptly at right angles. The specimens are mostly filled 

 with silica, and evidences of tabulae and trabeculse are obscured. 



The diminutive size and the small number of buds in each 

 umbel distinguish this species from the known members of the 

 genus Jxomingeria. 



Formation and locality. — In the Corniferous limestone 

 (Devonian), near Leroy, New York. 



Any discussion of the affinities of Romingeria with other 

 genera of paleozoic tabulate corals must include the considera- 

 tion of a number of genera, some of whose taxonomic positions 

 are almost equally uncertain. On the one hand we are led 

 to compare it with Auloi^ora and related forms, and on the 

 other it appears that we are dealing with a type which in many 

 ways is connected with Favosites. At the same time, certain 

 genera often classed with the Bryozoa, as Clonojpora and 

 Yerniijpora^ have close resemblances with it in some essential 

 features, and should be treated in the same connection. 



The main purjDose of the present article is to make some 

 contribution to the knowledge of the structure and habit of 

 what are believed to be characteristic species of the genus 

 Romingeria^ and not to enter into a critical comparison with 

 other genera. Some few remarks can not well be avoided, 

 however, and the writer would again cite Aidopora as express- 

 ing a very simple type from which by progressive modifications 

 a considerable number of more highly developed genera could 

 be easily derived. 



In a study of the ontogeny of Pleurodictyitm^ it was shown 

 by the writer,^ and also by Girty in Favosites,'' that the initial 

 corallite soon gave origin to a single bud which was connected 

 with the parent by a large initial pore, and in this condition it 

 was homologous with a young colony of Auloj)o?'a consisting of 



