614 



6. R. TINE ON SILURIAN UNI SERIAL 



Stomatoporce. There are in all the species and genera named indi- 

 vidual characters, if isolated, that would indicate affinities in the 

 whole group ; and Mr. Hincks is wise in grouping all these genera 

 under one family name, that of the Tubuliporidae. 



Prof. H. Alleyne Nicholson, in working out material submitted to 

 him for examination by Mr. V. P. James, of Cincinnati, and also 

 material collected by himself, saw fit to rename the species of 

 Hall Hippothoa inflata, and, according to his description, shifted 

 the species from the suborder Cyclostomata to that of the Cheilo- 

 stomata of Busk. I could not from the first agree with the Pro- 

 fessor; but I was unable to dispute the point raised by him other- 

 wise than by the mere expression of opinion ; for up to the present 

 time no record has been given of species of Stomatqpora found in 

 our own Palaeozoic rocks. I am now able to carry back the true 

 uniserial Stomatoporce to the Lower Wenlock Shales of Shrop- 

 shire. 



It may be as well to say a few words about the material used by 

 me for this and other papers (to follow) on Silurian Polyzoa. It is 

 now pretty generally known that, for the purpose of assisting Mr. 

 Thomas Davidson, P.E.S., in his labours on the Silurian Brachio- 

 poda, Mr. George Maw, P.L.S. and F.G.S., of Benthall Hall, Shrop- 

 shire*, has had washed and carefully picked, for Brachiopoda, about 

 18 tons of Wenlock shales. The debris of these washings were after 

 this laid aside for the use of other specialists. Some time since I 

 applied to Mr. Davidson, and afterwards to Mr. Maw (Mr. Davidson 

 supporting my request), for some of this refuse, for the purpose of 

 working out stratigraphically the Polyzoa and smaller Actinozoa. 

 My request being granted, Mr. Maw sent me on the 19th of March 

 over two hundredweight of the debris for this purpose. I intend 

 to use the whole of this material honestly ; for I feel convinced that 

 it can be only by labours such as these that a true idea of the 

 abundance of the Polyzoal life of former epochs can be obtained ; 

 and, though picking out fragments from such a mass, by the aid of 

 a hand-glass, may be both painful and tedious, I shall prefer to 

 work on different groups, as material accumulates, rather than delay 

 writing till the whole has been picked. I have already gone over 

 about thirty pounds of the debris from the eleven localities and ho- 

 rizons ; and it may be interesting, as showing the difference between 

 the shales of the Carboniferous and the shales of the Wenlock series, 

 when I say that a single pound of unwashed Haiimyres clay would 

 yield me in the washing more individual specimens than I have been 

 able to get from the thirty pounds of the "Wenlock debris. In the 

 Carboniferous the fragmentary organisms are tolerably well pre- 

 served and perfect ; in the other the Polyzoal remains seem to have 

 been much waterworn, but, with the exception of one locality, not 

 sufficiently injured to prevent identification. 



We are indebted to Prof. Hall for the first indication of the ex- 

 istence of uniserial Stomatoporce in Silurian rocks. It is quite 



* See Geological Magazine, Jar., March, &e. 1881. 



