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BRITISH PALEOZOIC CTENOSTOMATOUS POLYZOA. 
BY GEORGE ROBERT VINE. 
(Plates III. and IV.) 
In the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 1877, Dr. 
H. A. Nicholson and R. Etheridge, jun., published a paper on some 
peculiar parasitic organisms found in the Devonian Rocks of Ontario, 
and the Carboniferous Rocks of Scotland. The species described and 
illustrated were : — 
1. Ascodictyou fusiforme, Nich. & Eth. jun., p. 463, pi. 19, figs. 7-8. 
2. „ stellatum, Nich. & Eth. jun., p. 464, pi. 19, figs. 1-6. 
3. „ radians, Nich. & Eth. jun., p. 465, pi. 19, figs. 9-11. 
Of these species the authors say* (p. 466), " After a very careful 
examination of a considerable number of specimens of the singular 
organisms which we have grouped together under the name of 
Ascodictyou, and after taking the opinion of several of our fellow- 
workers, we are still unable to express a positive opinion of their 
precise zoological position and relationships." They then cite the 
opinions, respecting the peculiar organisms, of Dr. Strethell Wright,! 
" who was unable to throw any light upon their nature ;" of Professor 
Huxley, " who, after considerable hesitation, suggested that they 
might be protozoans ;" of " our friend Mr. H. B. Brady, who, after a 
protracted examination of both the Scotch and the American forms, 
arrived at the conclusion that they cannot be referred to this group." 
Through the kindness of Mr. John Young, of Glasgow, I have in my 
possession some of the examples which were submitted by him to 
Mr. Brady for examination. After this some of the American speci- 
mens "of A. fusiforme and A. stellatum were kindly submitted by Mr. 
H. B. Brady to the Rev. T. Hincks, who suggested that they were 
possibly allied to the recent AnguinarioB. 11 The authors would not 
* On Ascodictyon, a new provisional and anomalous genus of Palaeozoic 
Fossils, ser. 4, vol. xix., p. 465. 
t Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Xat. Hist., vol, ii., p. 
