Qr. R. VINE ON THE FAMILY DIASTOPOK1D JS. 



381 



29. Further Notes on the Family Diastoporidje, Busk. Species f rom 

 the Lias and Oolite. By George Robert Vine, Esq. (Com- 

 municated by Prof. P. Martin Duncan, M.B. Loud., P.R.S., 

 P.G.S.) (Read January 19, 1881.) 



[Plate XIX.] 



Since my first paper, " A Review of the Pamily Diastoporidse for 

 the purpose of Classification"*, was written, a very important book 

 has been published, namely A History of British Marine Polyzoa,' 

 by the Rev. Thomas Hincks t. In this work the classification 

 adopted by Prof. Busk in his Monograph of the Possil Polyzoa of 

 the Crag, 1859, and also in his British-Museum Catalogue, 

 part iii. Cyclostomata, 1875, is set aside for one that I have little 

 hesitation in saying will prove to be far more valuable to the 

 working student. Instead of separating Diastopora, and making 

 it the type of a family, Mr. Hincks places this genus with others in 

 his second group of the Cyclostomata, which he calls Incrustata, 

 D'Orb. The family name which he adopts is Pam. II. Tubuliporidae, 

 which includes the genera 



Stomatopora, Brown. 

 Tubulipora, Lamarck. 

 Iduionea, Lamouroux. 



Entalophora, Lamouroux. 

 Diastopora, Lamouroux (pt.). 



Seeing that I have already committed myself to Prof. Busk's 

 arrangement, it is impossible for me now to retreat ; and, with this 

 explanation, I must be excused for still adhering to the family name 

 I used at first J. 



In his remarks on the C}'clostomata, Mr. Hincks says :- — " Sim- 

 plicity is in the highest degree characteristic of the group ; the cells 

 are universally tubular ; the polypide is without complexity of 

 structure, and has a small number of tentacles; all appendicular 

 organs are wanting" §. In another place he says: — "In classi- 

 fying the Cyclostomata we have to base our divisions mainly on 

 habit or mode of growth, on the plan according to which the 

 zocecia are aggregated together into colonies ; the simplicity and 

 general similarity of the cell throughout the tribe leave no other 

 course open to us. We have to deal with very uniform struc- 

 tural elements very variously combined; and the modes of com- 

 bination chiefly supply us with the bases of our system. Under 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxvi. p. 356 (August 1880). 

 t Van Voorst : 1880. 



| Of the two evils I choose the least. To call my paper " Further Notes on 

 the Tubuliporidce " would be to commit myself to remarks on the other genera, 

 which at present I have no intention of doing ; and the retention of the family 

 name Diastoporida?, Busk, may have its special advantages. 



§ Brit. Marine Polyzoa, Introduction, p. cxiv. 



