ANIMALS. AB 
FrenesteLua (Hornera?) ramosa, King. Idem. 
= — » Tennant, Strat. List Brit. Foss., p. 88, 1847. 
CERATOPHYTES DUBIUS, Schl. King, Catalogue, p. 6, 1848. 
FrnrEsTELLA RAMOSA, King. Howse, T. F. N. C., vol. i, p. 261, 1848. 
— ANCEPS ET F. pusia, Schl. Geinitz, Versteiner., p. 18, pl. vii, fig. 23, 
1848. 
Diagnosis.—Stems or branches somewhat thick; numerous; frequently dividing ; 
and slightly rounded on both surfaces: each of which marked with distinct flexuous 
longitudinal lines. Cel//ules from three to six on the width of a stem; arranged in 
quincunx or somewhat in linear series longitudimally, and oblique in the opposite 
direction; prominent, especially on the sides of the branches, to which they, in some 
instances, give a denticulated appearance.  Cellule-apertures generally assuming 
a circular form.’ 
This Coral has often been confounded with the next species, but it possesses 
characters, which it is considered, not only give it a specific, but a generic individuality. 
This has evidently arisen from the extremely variable character which it frequently 
displays, almost every specimen offering a modified aspect. The cellules are more 
apart in some than in others; irregularly arranged in this specimen; disposed in 
longitudinal series m that; and curving obliquely across the branches in another, as 
in [dmonea: they vary, too, in number; from three to six on the width of a branch : 
the form of their aperture is also very variable, being either circular or oval. Figures 
7, 9, 10, and 11, in Plate V, exhibit, besides these modifications, a difference in the 
branching: one shows the stems decidedly free (Pl. V, fig. 7); the other, conjoming 
(Pl. V, fig. 10),—in short, simulating the character of Synocladia ; another specimen 
before me shows an approach to the regular truncated, bilateral branching of the next 
genus. Goldfuss has figured a specimen of Zhammniscus dubius,” with the branches 
apparently, and in some cases, perhaps, really anastomosing, as in Synocladia virgulacea ; 
which has probably led Mr. Morris to identify the latter with the former ; but this is 
a character to be met with only occasionally, and generally near the root of the Coral. 
In the specimen under figure 11, in Plate V, there is displayed above some of the 
cellule-apertures (a) a small hemispherical body (4), which, when removed, leaves a 
distinct annular impression (¢c). The hemispherical bodies vary occasionally in position, 
being more or less elevated with reference to the upper lip of the apertures; and in a 
specimen of the same Coral, which I procured at Konitz, a few appear to be situated a little 
within the cellules immediately under the lip. There can be no doubt as to these 
bodies bemg casts of shallow cup-shaped cavities, similar to those observable in 
certain Lunulites, and in the Cellaria salicornia: and from their position, they may safely be 
' The following is Goldfuss’s diagnosis: ‘‘Gorgonia ramis dichotomis pinnatis, pinnulis subopposites 
ramis pinnulisque scabris.”’ (Petrefacta Germanie, vol. i, p. 18.) 
* Petrefacta Germanie, pl. vii, fig. 1 a, 6, ¢. 
