40 
SECTIONAL, 
On the occurrence of Zoophycos scoparius (Thioll :) in the Inferior 
Oolite op Dundry. 
ByE. B. Tawnsy, Assoc. E. Sch. op Mines, F.G.S., 
Bead before the Geological Section, December \ltk, 1872. 
In the summer of 1872, in fact on one of the excursions made by this 
Society to Dundry Hill, I found the above fossil. 
It is an Alga, a remarkable one too of its kind, and it has the additional 
interest of being, as far as I know, new to English Geology. At least I 
can find no mention of its having been recognised here before, though it 
is well known in parts of the continent. 
Genus Zoophycos Massolongo, 1851. 
Chondrites (Thiolliere) 
Taonurus (Fischer- Ooster) 
Cancellophycos (Count Saporta, 1872*) 
The genus Zoophycos was instituted by Prof. Massolongo in 1851, to 
include certain fan-shaped Algaa found in North Italy, but whose nature 
was till then so little understood that they had been ranged at different 
times under the genera Eucoides, Zonarites, Pterocarpus, and even 
Gorgonia. 
Zoophycos scoparius (Thiolliere sp :), Our fossil from Dundry is a 
plume-shaped Alga, corresponding precisely with continental specimens, so 
abundant in certain spots in the Alps and South of France. 
The characteristic of the genus is a frond, in shape something like an 
ostrich-plume, set on a wide stalk, and disposed perhaps in whorls or 
close spirals. The distinctions of the species depend on the frond being 
radiate, infundibuliform, &c. 
The present species is strongly arched or bow-shaped, but not divided 
into crescent, or horse-shoe shaped segments. 
Zoophycos scoparius is extremely characteristic of the Inferior Oolite in 
the Alps of the Canton de Yaud, being sometimes almost the only fossil to 
be found in those beds. 
* As Count Saporta has not published yet the description of the plate 
in which this new generic name is given, we do not feel entitled to adopt it. 
