ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE GENUS C OLUMNARI A — ETHERIDGE. 33 
marginal ; in G. reticulata, Salter,* 36, the primaries extending 
half-way to the centre of the visceral chambers ; in G. franklini, 
Salter,f although the number is not stated, they are very numerous 
and evidently quite marginal, like those of O. calicina ; and in 
0. gotlandica, Ed. & H.,J 36-44. The literature of those forms 
described by Billings is not accessible to me, and I am thus unable 
to enter into any comparison between his species and C. pauci- 
septata. The great dissimilarity existing between the last-named 
and those I have just quoted will at once be apparent, for in no 
instance have I observed more than sixteen septa, a disparity 
that can have no other than a specific significance. 
As compared with the tabulae of other species, those of G. pauci- 
septata may be said to be distant from one another. In G. alveolata 
there are three in one line, horizontal or slightly flexuous according 
to Nicholson, whilst Romenger says flat only; in G. calicina the 
same; in G.? halli the tabulae appear to approach nearer to those 
of our species in distance from one another, and are horizontal and 
strong ; in G. reticulata the tabulae are “ very close, four or five 
in the space of a line ” ; in G. franklini they are very closely 
packed, about four in the space of a line.” Both these Arctic 
species, from the absence of mural pores, must be regarded as 
Columnar ice, although they have much the appearance of massive 
Favosites of the F. gothlandica group, in which the walls have 
undergone so much secondary alteration that the pores are not 
visible, a fact well known to many microactinologists. Salter’s 
opinion, is borne out by the absence of any reference in Mr, 
Etheridge’s description § of mural pores in the same corals, collected 
by the Nares Arctic Expedition. In G . gothlandica the tabulae 
are said to be from one and a-half to two millimetres apart, even 
more distant than in G . pauciseptata . 
The species of Golumnaria are Silurian in their stratigraphical 
distribution, both Lower and Upper, with the exception of a 
doubtful Devonian form described by Schliiter.|| 
The study of this coral leads me to support Prof. Alleyne 
Nicholson’s view that Golumnaria cannot be placed near the 
Favositidas, but as suggested by Prof. Verrill, and afterwards 
adopted by the former, is much more nearly allied to the Astrseidse, 
although I have not observed in G. pauciseptata any trace of 
endothecal structures except tabulae. 
Type. In St. Stanislaus’ College Museum, Bathurst. 
* Sutherland's Journ. Voy. Baffin's Bay, &c., ii., 1852, p. ccxxix., t. 6, 
f. 2, 2a. 
f Ibid., p. ccxxix., t. 6, f. 3, 3a. 
I Archiv. Mus. Hist. Nat., v. 1851, p. 309. 
§ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., xxxiv., 1878, p. 586. 
|| Abhandl. Geol. Specialkarte Preuss.-Thur. Staaten, viii., 1889, Heft 
4, p. 14, 
