52 CALCAREOUS ALGAE OF THE MIDDLE EAST 



well-known in the literature as G. arabica. It shows no diagnostic dasyclad charac- 

 ters to refute the new allocation (and indeed the genus Griphoporella itself is a 

 receptacle for various inconclusive dasyclads, probably not closely related). The 

 description of this codiacean is retained here for comparison with dasyclads as, 

 unlike the problematic Thaumatoporella, it is well-known in dasyclad literature. 



Genus GYROPORELLA Giimbel 1872 



i960 Gyroporella cf. maxima Pia ; Elliott : 219. 



Many Permian species of Gyroporella have been described from Japan, also one 

 from the U.S.A. (Johnson 1963), and one from Turkey {Gyroporella sp., Bilgiitay 

 1959). My record of G. cf. maxima from Iraqi Kurdistan was based on a single 

 random section : no further material has been found to substantiate this, and the 

 determination is therefore abandoned. 



Genus INDOPOLIA Pia 1936 



Diagnosis. Calcareous tubular dasycladacean showing verticils of branches each 

 of which consists of one primary dividing into two secondaries set one above the 

 other (vertically) : in fertile whorls each branch gives rise to two sporangia. 



Indopolia satyavanti Pia 



(PI. 12, fig. 2) 



1936 Indopolia satyavanti Pia : 20, pi. 1, figs. I, 5-13, text-figs. 17-19. 



Description (details after Pia). Hollow calcareous elongate tubes, length 

 unknown but perhaps 5-0 mm. or more ; external diameter (fertile part) o-86-i-i6 

 mm., with internal diameter of 44-49% external ; (sterile part) 0-55-0-98 mm. 

 external, internal 47-55%. Fertile whorls of perhaps 28 branches ; each branch 

 consists of one primary, which is set obliquely at 60-70 ° from the horizontal : this 

 divides into two secondaries set nearly horizontally one above the other and reaching 

 the outer surface almost horizontally i.e. nearly at right angles to it. The second- 

 aries increase in diameter to become funnel-shaped and almost in contact at the 

 external surface, and occasion a polygonal pattern there. Two small pyriform 

 sporangia (diameter 0-09-0-12 mm.) are attached at or near the branch-junctions. 

 The sterile whorls do not of course show sporangia, but the branches are similar. 



Horizon. " Danian " of India ; Palaeocene of Middle East. 



Material. In Iraqi Kurdistan, from the Sinjar Formation (Palaeocene-Lower 

 Eocene) of Banik, Mosul Liwa, where it is uncommon. Possibly also in Arabia, from 

 the Upper Palaeocene of the Batinah Coast, Oman (poorly preserved). 



Remarks. Pia's material was from the Trichinopoly Danian of India, where the 

 species was abundant and described as the " almost constant companion of Disso- 

 cladella savitriae " . In the Middle East, although D. savitriae is widespread, and 



