2 Beecher — Observations on the Gemis Romdngeria. 



angles to the parent corallites, each soon giving birth to a simi- 

 lar circlet of new tubes. 



"It may be that this species should constitute a hqw genus; but 

 as I have not been able to ascertain wherein its internal structure 

 differs from Aidojyora, I have disposed of it as above, provis- 

 ionally. 



" Locality and formation. — Lot 6, con. 1, Wainfleet. Cor- 

 niferous." 



Eominger,'^ in 1876, was the first to adopt the suggestion of 

 Billings as to the generic import of A. iimbelUfera. He 

 showed its distinct value, and proposed the genus Quenstedtia, 

 with this species as the type. Under it he considered A. cor- 

 mota Billings, as consisting of fragments of A. uinbellifera 

 Billings, in which only from one to three branches or buds are 

 given off. The species Q. niagarensis was also defined by 

 Rominger at the same time. 



Three years later (1879) Nicholson published his general 

 work on the " Tabulate Corals,'" and substituted the name 

 Homingeria for Quenstedtia^ which proved to be preoccupied. 

 No change was made by Nicholson in the specific synonymy, 

 and the identity of A. umhellifej^a and A. cormita was 

 accepted by him, though in his description of R. umhellifera 

 he includes characters never present in what the writer 

 believes to be Billings's species sensu strictu. His illustration 

 especially resembles that given by Billings for his A. cornuta, 

 though the statement is made that there were specimens in his 

 hands apparently belonging to A. cornuta and agreeing with 

 Aulopora proper rather than with Romingeria. However, as 

 Nicholson's redescription of R. icmhellifera seems to be based 

 largely on his own material, as represented in his figures, it 

 appears highly probable that the generic reference to Romin- 

 geria was correct. The discrepancies between his description 

 and what is now believed to clearly represent the original 

 species, can be best explained on the supposition that Nichol- 

 son did not have true R. umhellifera, but did have representa- 

 tives of what is apparently a distinct, though allied, species of 

 Romingeria, which is not uncommon in the Upper Helderberg 

 limestones at the Falls of the Ohio and elsewhere, and is the 

 form commonly, though erroneously, identified with R. umhelli- 

 fera. 



Davis,* in the volume of plates illustrating Kentucky fossil 

 corals, dated 1885* (though apparently not published before 



*This volume bears the title of '' Kentucky Fossil Corals. A Monograph 

 of the Fossil Corals of the Silurian and Devonian Eocks of Kentucky. By 

 William J. Davis. [In Two Parts. Part II.] Frankfort, Kentucl^y, 1885. 

 Copyrighted 1887." This "monograph,'* or more properly an illustrated 

 catalogue, as it has proved to be, consists of a letter of transmittal and thir- 

 teen pages of index to the plates. The plates and explanations number one 



