206 
MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 
would be in the upper part of the Tambo Series or in the lower part of the 
\\ inton Series and so tentatively may be regarded as being of Cenomanian 
age. 
Comparable Forms— Three other groups of strange, large, spiral structures 
are on record. In 1892 Barbour recorded gigantic spiral forms from Miocene 
beds in Nebraska to which he gave the name Daimonelix (later changed to 
Daemonhehx bv von Ammon). Similar forms recorded under this name have 
been found in Pleistocene beds in America (Wood & Wood, 1933) and in the 
Oligocene of Bavaria (von Ammon, 1900). On these forms there is now a 
considerable literature that has been summarised recentlv bv Wood & Wood 
(1933). 
In 1922 Woodward described some gigantic spirals, over seven feet in 
length, from the lower Wealden Beds (Wadhurst Clay) of England and. 
diagnosing the form as a gastropod, gave to it the generic name Dinocochlea . 
A recent addition to our knowledge of these weird, giant spirals was 
made by Cox (1929) who figured a form dredged from the bottom of the 
North Sea. 
In addition to these forms spirals of small size and of puzzling origin 
are known from many formations, paleozoic, ,mesozoic, and tertiary. References 
in literature to many of these have been given by Wood & Wood (1933. p. 830). 
Daemonhelix reaches a length of many feet with a width of sometimes 
one foot. The spiral generally maintains a fairly uniform width. Both dextral and 
sinistral forms are known. It has a feature unique among such spiral structures, 
that near the base a long, straight, lateral process is given off from the main 
structure. Another feature of some interest is that occasionally in these forms an 
axial, cylindrical process is found. 
Among the spirals described as Dinocochlea both dextral and sinistral 
forms occur. Starting from a protoconch -like process the spiral slowly increases 
in width in a most regular manner, the increase corresponding to a logarithmic 
spiral.* The final whorl is considerably larger than any preceding. The very 
regular spiral and the appearance of the ends of the specimen temptingly 
suggest that the form is an internal mould of a gigantic gastropod of 
undetermined affinities. A coincidence that may be worthy of remark is that 
this form, like the Queensland specimen, is preserved in a calcareous sandstone 
with fontainebleau structure. 
The mode of occurrence and the age of the North Sea specimen are of 
course unknown. Like Dinocochlea this is in the form of a widening spiral 
resembling a gastropod. It is, however, a more globular type and with fewer 
whorls than any of the other forms. 
Dinocochlea and the present form agree in that they are embedded more 
or less in the plane of bedding of the rocks. Daemonhelix occurs in both vertical 
* In one of these forms (a dextral specimen) Woodward (1922, p. 244) determined the ratio 
for the logarithmic spiral to be 102. For a sinistral form he quotes the ratio of 1-055. 
