ANIMALS. 45 



Fenestella (Hornera?) ramosa. King. Idem. 



— — „ Tennant, Strat. List Brit. Foss., p. 88, 1847. 

 Ceratophytes dubius, Schl. King, Catalogue, p. 6, 1848. 



Fenestella ramosa, King. Howse, T. F. N. C, vol. i, p. 261, 1848. 



— ANCErs ET F. DUBIA, Schl. Geinitz, Versteiner., p. 18, pi. vii, fig. 23, 



1848. 



Diagnosis. — Stems or branches somewhat thick ; numerous ; frequently dividing ; 

 and shghtly rounded on both surfaces : each of which marked with distinct flexuous 

 longitudinal lines. Cellules from three to six on the width of a stem ; arranged in 

 quincunx or somewhat in linear series longitudinally, and oblique in the opposite 

 direction ; prominent, especially on the sides of the branches, to which they, in some 

 instances, give a denticulated appearance. Cellule-apertures generally assuming 

 a circular form.^ 



This Coral has often been confounded with the next species, but it possesses 

 characters, which it is considered, not only give it a specific,. but a generic individuality. 

 This has evidently arisen from the extremely variable character which it frequently 

 displays, almost every specimen offering a modified aspect. The cellules are more 

 apart in some than in others ; irregularly arranged in this specimen ; disposed in 

 longitudinal series in that ; and curving obliquely across the branches in another, as 

 in Idmonea : they vary, too, in number ; from three to six on the width of a branch : 

 the form of their aperture is also very variable, being either circular or oval. Figures 

 7, 9, 10, and 11, in Plate V, exhibit, besides these modifications, a difi'erence in the 

 branching : one shows the stems decidedly free (PI. V, fig. 7) ; the other, conjoining 

 (PI. V, fig. 10), — in short, simulating the character of Synocladia ; another specimen 

 before me shows an approach to the regular truncated, bilateral branching of the next 

 genus. Goldfuss has figured a specimen of Thamniscus dubius^ with the branches 

 apparently, and in some cases, perhaps, really anastomosing, as in Synocladia virgidacea ; 

 which has probably led Mr. Morris to identify the latter with the former ; but this is 

 a character to be met with only occasionally, and generally near the root of the Coral. 

 In the specimen under figure 11, in Plate V, there is displayed above some of the 

 cellule-apertures {a) a small hemispherical body {b), which, when removed, leaves a 

 distinct annular impression (c). The hemispherical bodies vary occasionally in position, 

 being more or less elevated with reference to the upper lip of the apertures ; and in a 

 specimen of the same Coral, which I procured at K5nitz, a few appear to be situated a little 

 within the cellules immediately under the lip. There can be no doubt as to these 

 bodies being casts of shallow cup-shaped cavities, similar to those observable in 

 certain Lunulites, and in the Cellaria salicornia: and from their position, they may safely be 



' The following is Goldfuss's diagnosis : " Gorgonia ramis dicliotorais piunatis, pinnulis aubopposites 

 ramis pinnulisque scabris." (Petrefacta Germanise, vol. i, p. 18.) 

 - Petrefacta Germanise, pi. vii, fig. 1 a, b, c. 



