FROM A DREDGING IN THE WEDDELL SEA. 
695 
Protopharetra, and then found that higher up a more regular type was attained. 
Another explanation of these processes may be suggested, namely, that they are 
really reproductive stolons which gave rise to new cups under favourable circum- 
stances. This may or may not be the case, but they must have functioned in the 
fixation of the cup round which they occur. 
It 'will be noticed that Taylor’s two new species of Spirocyathus have been 
merged in the prototype, and the reasons for this will be seen by reference to the 
figures now published. The chief 'diagnostic characters in S. irregularis, as given 
by Taylor, are that the septa are much more radial near the inner wall and that 
they are very irregular towards the outer wall. This feature is beautifully shown 
in fig. 41, but, as stated already, fig. 40 is from the same specimen two sections 
below the level of fig. 41, and in the upper half of that figure (fig. 40) the septa 
are radial right out to the outer wall. 
Again, PI. Ill, fig. 32, and PI. IV, fig. 37, are from the same specimen. In the 
former, radial symmetry is almost obliterated, but in the upper part of the latter 
figure this radial character of the septa is very prominent. 
Similarly, S. radiata, Taylor, is merely a phase which occurs in places in each of 
the Weddell Sea forms. I have therefore placed them all under the prototype. Van 
Toll has figured a weathered specimen as Spirocyathus sp., and his figure compares 
so well with that shown in PI. IV, fig. 38, that this specimen is also included 
under S. atlanticus. 
Protopharetra, Bornemann, 1883. # 
The most common type present in the Scotia material is undoubtedly referable 
to Protopharetra. Bornemann in his original description of the genus, considered 
it as a generalised type of basal structure from which many types might ultimately 
be developed, i.e. that different genera had similar basal structures. (An exact 
analogy has been shown in the fossil Lycopodiales, where Stigmaria includes the 
underground portions of Lepidodendron, Sigillaria, or Bothrodendron.) Taylor, 
while accepting Bornemann’s conclusion as far as the Sardinian forms are concerned, 
is emphatic in placing certain completed Australian types in the genus. Yet 
Taylor’s genus Metaldetes bears out Bornemann’s contention, since near the base a 
transverse section shows marked resemblances to Protopharetra. Both authors are 
probably correct, and the genus may be a central form which became differentiated 
along several lines. 
Protopharetra polymorpha, Bornemann. 
1884. Protopharetra polymorpha, Bornemann, Geol. Zeitschr., p. 705. 
1886. ,, „ „ “ Verstein. Sardinien,” Nova Acta der Ksl. Leop.-Carol. 
Deut. Akad. der Nat., vol. li, p. 46, Taf. v and vi. 
A slightly oblique Section (PI. VI, fig. 66), which was obtained while making 
transverse sections from another specimen, compares very well as regards dimensions 
* Geol . Zeitschr ., 1883. 
