201 
THE OPERCULATE MADREPORARIA RUGOSA OF 
NEW SOUTH WALES. 
By R. Etheridge, Junr. 
(Plate xxx.) 
The first mention of an Australian Operculate Rugose Coral, was, 
I believe, made by the late Rev. W. B. Clarke, F.R.S., in the 
third edition of his “ Sedimentary Formations of New South 
Wales, 5 '* * * § wherein the discovery of Calceola is mentioned in the 
supposed Devonian rocks of Mount Froome, Co. Phillip. In the 
fourth edition of the same publication! this locality is again 
referred to, and Calceola is also said to have been found “along 
the Yass and Murrumbidgee Rivers.” The Clarke specimens 
are not unfortunately, now extant for reference but previous to 
the destruction of the collection, the late Prof, de Koninck 
described from Rock-Flat Creek (probably near Cooma) a Calceola- 
like Coral, termed by him Rhizophyllum interpunctatum,\ and 
it is more than probable that the fossil, formerly referred to by 
Clarke as Calceola , to which it bears a very strong resemblance 
on a macroscopic examination only, is a species of Rhizophyllum. 
The specimen described very briefly by De Koninck is said to be 
a semi-cone shaped cast, bearing on the curved surface fine 
granulated radiating ridges. The flat side is only provided with 
ridges towards the lower part, and they are smooth, whilst in the 
middle line is the impression of the well developed large median 
septum. 
In 1880 I described another Operculate Rugose Coral from 
near Yass, sent to me by Prof. A. Liversidge, F.R.S., and 
possessing a similar general resemblance to Calceola. This I also 
referred to Lindstrom’s genus Rhizophyllum as R. australe , § 
pointing out, however, that “ one of the three specimens is more 
Calceola-like than the other two, which again resemble Rhizo- 
phyllum to a greater extent.’’ 
I am now indebted to Messrs. J. A. Wall and J. Mitchell for 
an opportunity of examining a much larger series of these corals 
from Yass and Silverdale, and they have been good enough to 
* Mines and Min. Statistics of N. S. Wales (N. S. Wales Intercol. and 
Philadelphia Tnternat. Exhib., 8vo., Sydney, 1875— by Authority), 1875, 
p. 159. 
f Remarks on the Sedimentary Formations of New South Wales. 
Fourth Edition (8vo., Sydney, 1878 — by Authority), p. 16. 
JFoss. Pal. Nouv. Dalles du Sud, Pt. 1, 1876, p. 61. 
§ Journ. R. Soc. N. S. Wales for 1880 (1881), xiv., p. 248. 
