FOSSIL SPONGES, CORALS AND GRAPTOLITES.

SPONGES.

Characteristics of Sponges.—

The Sponges are sometimes placed by themselves as a separate phylum, the Porifera. With the exception of a few freshwater genera, they are of marine habit and to be found at all depths between low tide (littoral) and deep water (abyssal). Sponges are either fixed or lie loosely on the sea-floor. They possess no organs of locomotion, and have no distinct axis or lateral appendages. They exist by setting up currents in the water whereby the latter is circulated through the system, carrying with it numerous food particles, their tissues being at the same time oxygenated. Their framework, in the siliceous and calcareous sponges, is strengthened by a mineral skeleton, wholly or partially capable of preservation as a fossil.

Cambrian and Ordovician Sponges.—

The oldest rocks in Australia containing the remains of Sponges are the Cambrian limestones of South Australia, at Ardrossan and elsewhere. Some of these sponge-remains are referred to the genus Protospongia, a member of the Hexactinellid group having 6-rayed skeletal elements. When complete, the Protospongia has a cup- or funnel-shaped body, composed of large and small modified spicules, which form quadrate areas, often seen in isolated or aggregated patches on the weathered surface of the rock. Protospongia also occurs in the Lower Ordovician slates and shales of Lancefield (P. oblonga), and Bendigo (P. reticulata and P. cruciformis), in Victoria (Fig. 67 A). At St. David’s, in South Wales, the genus is found in rocks of Middle Cambrian age. The South Australian limestones in which Protospongia occurs are usually placed in the Lower Cambrian.

Another genus of Sponges, Hyalostelia, whose affinities are not very clear, occurs in the South Australian Cambrian at Curramulka. This type is represented by the long, slightly bent, rod-like spicules of the root-tuft, and the skeletal spicules with six rays, one of which is much elongated.

Stephanella maccoyi is a Monactinellid sponge, found in the Lower Ordovician (Bendigo Series) of Bendigo, Victoria.

Silurian Sponges.—

Numerous Sponges of Silurian age are found in the neighbourhood of Yass, New South Wales, which belong to the Lithistid group, having irregular, knotty and branching spicules. These sponges resemble certain fossil fruits, generally like diminutive melons; their peculiar spicular structure, however, is usually visible on the outside of the fossil, especially in weathered specimens. The commonest genus is Carpospongia.

Receptaculites: Silurian to Carboniferous.—

In Upper Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous times the curious saucer- or funnel-shaped bodies known as Receptaculites must have been fairly abundant in Australia, judging by their frequent occurrence as fossils. They are found as impressions or moulds and casts in some of the mudstones and limestones of Silurian age in Victoria, as at Loyola and Wombat Creek, in west and north-east Gippsland respectively. In the Devonian limestones of New South Wales they occur at Fernbrook, near Mudgee, at the Goodradigbee River, and at Cavan, near Yass; also in beds of the same age in Victoria, at Bindi, and Buchan (Fig. 67, B.C.). Receptaculites also occur in the Star Beds of Upper Devonian or Lower Carboniferous age in Queensland, at Mount Wyatt. It will thus be seen that this genus has an extensive geological range.

Carbopermian Sponges.—

A Monactinellid Sponge, provisionally referred to Lasiocladia, has been described from the Gympie beds of the Rockhampton District, Queensland. Lasiocladia, as well as the Hexactinellid Sponge Hyalostelia, occurs in the Carbopermian of New South Wales.

Cretaceous Sponges.—

No sponge-remains seem to occur above the Carbopermian in Australia until we reach the Cretaceous rocks. In the Lower Cretaceous series in Queensland a doubtful member of the Hexactinellid group is found, namely, Purisiphonia clarkei. In the Upper Cretaceous of the Darling Downs District pyritized Sponges occur which have been referred to the genus Siphonia, a member of the Lithistid group, well known in the Cretaceous of Europe.

Cainozoic Sponges.—

A white siliceous clay, supposed to be from a “Deep Lead,” in the Norseman district in Western Australia, has proved to consist almost entirely of siliceous sponge-spicules, belonging to the Monactinellid, the Tetractinellid, the Lithistid, and the Hexactinellid groups (Fig. 69 A, B). The reference of the deposit to a “deep lead” or alluvial deposit presents a difficulty, since these sponge-spicules represent moderately deep water marine forms. This deposit resembles in some respects the spicule-bearing rock of Oamaru, New Zealand, which is of Miocene age.

In the Cainozoic beds of southern Australia Sponges with calcareous skeletons are not at all uncommon. The majority of these belong to the Lithonine section of the Calcispongiae, in which the spicules are regular, and not fixed together. Living examples of these sponges, closely related to the fossils, have been dredged from the Japanese Sea. The fossils are found mainly in the Janjukian, at Curlewis, in the Moorabool River limestones, and in the polyzoal rock of Flinders, all in Victoria. They belong to the genera Bactronella, Plectroninia and Tretocalia (Fig. 68, D and E). Some diminutive forms also occur in the older series, the Balcombian, at Mornington, namely, Bactronella parvula. At Boggy Creek, near Sale, in Victoria, a Tetractinellid Sponge, Ecionema newberyi, is found in the Janjukian marls; spicules of this form have also been noted from the clays of the Altona Bay coal-shaft (Fig. 68 C).

The ARCHAEOCYATHINAE: an ancient class of organisms related both to the Sponges and the Corals.

Archaeocyathinae in Cambrian Strata.—

These curious remains have been lately made the subject of detailed research, and it is now concluded that they form a group probably ancestral both to the sponges and the corals. They are calcareous, and generally cup-shaped or conical, often furnished at the pointed base with roots or strands for attachment to the surrounding reef. They have two walls, both the inner and the outer being perforated like sponges. As in the corals, they are divided by transverse septa and these are also perforated. Certain of the genera as Protopharetra (Fig. 67 D), Coscinocyathus, and Archaeocyathina, are common to the Cambrian of Sardinia and South Australia, whilst other genera of the class are also found in Siberia, China, Canada and the United States. A species of Protopharetra was recently detected in a pebble derived from the Cambrian limestone in the Antarctic, as far south as 85 deg. An Archaeocyathina limestone has also been found in situ from Shackleton’s farthest south.

CORALS (Class Anthozoa).

Rugose Corals.—

Many of the older types of Corals from the Palaeozoic rocks belong to the Tetracoralla (septa in multiples of four), or Rugosa (i.e., with wrinkled exterior).

Ordovician Corals.—

In Great Britain and North America Rugose Corals are found as early as Ordovician times, represented by Streptelasma, Petraia, etc. In Australia they seem to first make their appearance in the Silurian period.

Silurian Corals.—

In rocks of Silurian age in Australia we find genera like Cyathophyllum (with single cups or compound coralla), Diphyphyllum, Tryplasma and Rhizophyllum, the first-named often being very abundant. The compound corallum of Cyathophyllum approximans presents a very handsome appearance when cut transversely and polished. This coral is found in the Newer Silurian limestone in Victoria; it shows an alliance with C. mitchelli of the Middle Devonian of the Murrumbidgee River, New South Wales (Fig. 69 A).

Silurian Hexacoralla.—

It is, however, to the next group, the Hexacoralla, with septa in multiples of six, twelve, and twenty-four, that we turn for the most varied and abundant types of Corals in Silurian times. The genus Favosites (Honey-comb Coral) is extremely abundant in Australian limestones (Fig. 69 B, C), such as those of Lilydale, Walhalla, and Waratah Bay in Victoria, and of Hatton’s Corner and other localities near Yass, in New South Wales. Pleurodictyum is also a familiar type in the Australian Silurian, being one of the commonest corals in the Yeringian stage; although, strange to say, in Germany and N. America, it is typical of Devonian strata (Fig. 69 E). Pleurodictyum had a curious habit of growing, barnacle fashion, on the side of the column of the crinoids or sea-lilies which flourished in those times. Syringopora, with its funnel-shaped tabulae or floor partitions, is typical of many Australian limestones, as those from Lilydale, Victoria, and the Delegate River, New South Wales. Halysites (Chain Coral), with its neat strings of tubular and tabulated corallites joined together by their edges, is another striking Coral of the Silurian period (Fig. 69 F). This and the earlier mentioned Syringopora, is by some authors regarded as belonging to the Alcyonarian Corals (typically with eight tentacles). Halysites is known from the limestones of the Mitta Mitta River, N.E. Gippsland, Victoria; from the Molong and Canobolas districts in New South Wales; from the Gordon River limestone in Tasmania; and from Chillagoe in Queensland. Abroad it is a well known type of Coral in the Wenlockian of Gotland in Scandinavia, and Shropshire in England, as well as in the Niagara Limestone of the United States.

Silurian Octocoralla.—

Perhaps the most important of the Octocoralla is Heliolites (“Sunstone”), which is closely allied to the Blue Coral, Heliopora, a frequent constituent of our modern coral reefs. The genus Heliolites has a massive, calcareous corallum, bearing two kinds of pores or tubes, large (autopores) containing complete polyps, and small (siphonopores) containing the coenosarc or flesh of the colony. Both kinds of tubes are closely divided by tabulae, whilst the former are septate. Heliolites is of frequent occurrence in the Silurian limestones of New South Wales and Victoria (Fig. 69 G).

Devonian Corals.—

The Middle Devonian beds of Australia are chiefly limestones, such as the Buchan limestone, Victoria; the Burdekin Series, Queensland; and the Tamworth limestone of New South Wales. These rocks, as a rule, are very fossiliferous, and the chief constituent fossils are the Rugose and Perforate Corals. Campophyllum gregorii is a common form in the Buchan limestone (Fig. 70 A), as well as some large mushroom-shaped Favosites, as F. gothlandica and F. multitabulata. Other genera which may be mentioned as common to the Australian Middle Devonian rocks are, Cyathophyllum, Sanidophyllum and Spongophyllum, Heliolites is also found in limestones of this age in New South Wales and Queensland.

In the Burdekin Series (Middle Devonian) in Queensland we also find Cystiphyllum, Favosites gothlandica, and Pachypora meridionalis (Fig. 70 B), whilst in beds of the same age at Rough Range in Western Australia are found Aulopora repens (Fig. 70 C), and another species of Pachypora, namely, P. tumida.

Carbopermian Corals.—

The only true Carboniferous marine fauna occurring in Australia, appears to be that of the Star Beds in Queensland, but so far no corals have been found. The so-called Carboniferous of Western Australia may be regarded as Carbopermian or even of Permian age. The marine Carbopermian beds of New South Wales contain several genera of Corals belonging to the group Rugosa, as Zaphrentis (Fig. 70 D), Lophophyllum, and Campophyllum. Of the Tabulate corals may be mentioned Trachypora wilkinsoni, very typical of the Upper Marine Series (Fig. 70 E) and Cladochonus.

In the Gympie beds of the same system in Queensland occur the following rugose corals, Zaphrentis profunda and a species of Cyathophyllum.

In the Carbopermian of Western Australia the rugose corals are represented by Amplexus, Cyathophyllum, and Plerophyllum, which occur in rocks on the Gascoyne River.

The imperfectly understood group of the Monticuliporoids, by some authors placed with the Polyzoa (Order Trepostomata), are well represented in Australia by the genus Stenopora (Fig. 70 F). The corallum is a massive colony of long tubes set side by side and turned outwards, the polyp moving upwards in growth and cutting off the lower part of the tube by platforms like those in the tabulate corals. Some of the species of Stenopora, like S. tasmaniensis, of New South Wales and Tasmania, are found alike in the Lower and Upper Marine Series. S. australis is confined to the Bowen River Coal-field of Queensland. Stenopora often attains a large size, the corallum reaching over a foot in length.

Neither Jurassic or Cretaceous Corals have been found in Australasia, although elsewhere as in Europe and India, the representatives of modern corals are found in some abundance.

Cainozoic Corals.—

In Tertiary times the marine areas of southern Australia were the home of many typical solitary Corals of the group of the Hexacoralla. In the Balcombian beds of Mornington, Victoria, for instance, we have genera such as Flabellum, Placotrochus, Sphenotrochus, Ceratotrochus, Conosmilia, Trematotrochus, Notophyllia and Balanophyllia (Fig. 71).

Corals especially characteristic of the Janjukian Series are Paracyathus tasmanicus, Stephanotrochus tatei, Montlivaltia variformis, Thamnastraea sera and Dendrophyllia epithecata. The stony axis of the Sea-pen, Graphularia senescens, a member of the Octocoralla, is also typical of this stage, and are called “square-bones” by the quarrymen at Waurn Ponds, near Geelong, where these fossils occur.

The Kalimnan Corals are not so abundantly represented as in the foregoing stages, but certain species of Flabellum and Trematotrochus, as F. curtum and T. clarkii, are peculiar to those beds. Several of the Janjukian Corals persist into Kalimnan times, some dating as far back as the Balcombian, as Sphenotrochus emarciatus. The Sea-pen, Graphularia senescens is again found at this higher horizon, at Beaumaris; it probably represents a varietal form, the axis being smaller and more slender.

Other examples of the Octocoralla are seen in Mopsea, two species of which are found in the Janjukian at Cape Otway; the deeper beds of the Mallee; and the Mount Gambier Series.

A species of the Astraeidae (Star-corals) of the reef-forming section, Plesiastraea st.vincenti, is found in the Kalimnan of Hallett’s Cove, South Australia.

HYDROZOA.

The few animals of this group met with in fossil faunas are represented by the living Millepora (abundant as a coral reef organism), Hydractinia (parasitic on shells, etc.), and Sertularia (Sea-firs).

Milleporids and Stylasterids.—

Although so abundant at the present time, the genus Millepora does not date back beyond the Pleistocene. The Eocene genus Axopora is supposed to belong here, but is not Australian. Of the Stylasterids one example is seen in Deontopora, represented by the branchlets of D. mooraboolensis, from the Janjukian limestone of the Moorabool Valley, near Geelong.

Hydractinia.—

Hydractinia dates from the Upper Cretaceous rocks in England, and in Australia its encrusting polypidom is found attached to shells in the polyzoal limestone of Mount Gambier (Miocene).

Stromatoporoids.

An important group of reef-builders in Palaeozoic times was the organism known as Stromatopora, and its allies. The structures of these hydroid polyps resemble successional and repetitional stages of a form like Hydractinia. As in that genus it always commenced to grow upon a base of attachment such as a shell, increasing by successive layers, until the organic colony often reached an enormous size, and formed great mounds and reefs (see antea, Fig. 32). The stromatoporoid structure was formed by a layer of polyp cells separated by vertical partitions, upon which layer after layer was added until a great vertical thickness was attained. This limestone-making group first appeared in the Silurian, and probably reached its maximum development in Middle Devonian times, when it almost disappeared, except to be represented in Carbopermian strata by a few diminutive forms.

Silurian Stromatoporoids.—

In the Silurian limestones of Victoria (Lilydale, Waratah Bay, Walhalla and Loyola), and New South Wales (near Yass), Stromatoporoids belonging to the genera Clathrodictyon (probably C. regulare), Stromatopora and Idiostroma occur. Stromatoporella has been recorded from the Silurian rocks of the Jenolan Caves, New South Wales.

Devonian Stromatoporids.—

The Middle Devonian strata of Bindi, Victoria, yield large, massive examples of Actinostroma. This genus is distinguished from the closely allied Clathrodictyon by its vertical pillars passing through several laminae in succession. Rocks of the same age in Queensland contain Stromatopora, whilst in Western Australia the Rough Range Limestone has been shown to contain Actinostroma clathratum (Fig. 72 A, B) and Stromatoporella eifeliensis.

Cladophora.

Palaeozoic Cladophora.—

Some branching and dendroid forms of Hydrozoa probably related to the modern Calyptoblastea (“covered buds”), such as Sertularia and Campanularia, are included in the Cladophora (“Branch bearers”). They existed from Cambrian to Devonian times, and consist of slender, forking branches sometimes connected by transverse processes or dissepiments, the branches bearing on one or both sides little cups or hydrothecae which evidently contained the polyps, and others of modified form, perhaps for the purpose of reproduction. The outer layer, called the periderm was of chitinous material. They were probably attached to the sea-floor like the Sertularians (Sea-firs).

Dictyonema and Allies.—

Remains of the above group are represented in the Australian rocks by several species of Dictyonema (Fig. 72 E, F) occurring in the Lower Ordovician of Lancefield, and in similar or older shales near Mansfield. Some of these species are of large size, D. grande measuring nearly a foot in width. The genera Callograptus, Ptilograptus (Fig. 72 C, D) and Dendrograptus are also sparsely represented in the Upper Ordovician of Victoria, the two former from San Remo, the latter from Bulla.

Graptolites (Graptolitoidea).—

Value of Graptolites to Stratigraphist.—

The Graptolites were so named by Linnaeus from their resemblances to writing on the slates in which their compressed remains are found. They form a very important group of Palaeozoic fossils in all parts of the world where these rocks occur, and are well represented in Australasia. The species of the various Graptolite genera are often restricted to particular beds, and hence they are of great value as indicators of certain horizons or layers in the black, grey or variously coloured slates and shales of Lower Ordovician to Silurian times. By their aid a stratum or set of strata can be traced across country for long distances, and the typical species can be correlated even with those in the older slates and shales of Great Britain and North America.

Nature of Graptolites.—

The Graptolites were compound animals, consisting of a number of polyps inserted in cups or thecae which budded out in a line from the primary sicula or conical chamber, which chamber was probably attached to floating sea-weed, either by a fine thread (nema), or a disc-like expansion. This budding of the polyp-bearing thecae gives to the polypary or colony the appearance of a fret-saw, with the teeth directed away from the sicula.

The habit of the earlier graptolites was to branch repeatedly, as in Clonograptus, or to show a compound leaf-like structure as in Phyllograptus. Later on the many-branched forms had their branches reduced until, as in Didymograptus, there were only two branches. Sometimes the branches opened out to direct the thecae upwards, the better to procure their food supply. In Diplograptus the thecae turned upwards and acquired a support by the formation of a medium rod (virgula), often ending in a disc or float. In Silurian times Monograptus prevailed, a genus having only a single row of thecae supported by a straight or curved virgula. In Retiolites the polypary opened out by means of a net-work of fine strands, rendering it better able to float, at the same time retaining its original strength.

Lower Ordovician Graptolites, Victoria.—

The Lower Ordovician slates and shales of Victoria have been successfully divided into several distinct series by means of the Graptolites. These, commencing at the oldest, are:—

(1) Lancefield Series. Characterised by Bryograptus clarki, B. victoriae, Didymograptus pritchardi, D. taylori and Tetragraptus decipiens. Other forms less restricted are, Clonograptus magnificus (measuring over a yard in breadth), C. flexilis, C. rigidus, Leptograptus antiquus and Tetragraptus approximatus (Fig. 73).

(2) Bendigo Series. Characterised by Tetragraptus fruticosus, T. pendens, Trichograptus fergusoni and Goniograptus thureaui. This series also contains Tetragraptus serra (ranging into Darriwill Series), T. bryonoides, T. quadribrachiatus, T. approximatus (base of the series), Phyllograptus typus, Dichograptus octobrachiatus, Goniograptus macer and many Didymograpti, including D. bifidus (Fig. 74).

(3) Castlemaine Series. Characterised by Didymograptus bifidus, D. caduceus and Loganograptus logani. Phyllograptus persists from the Bendigo Series. It also contains Tetragraptus serra, T. bryonoides, T. quadribrachiatus, Goniograptus macer and several Didymograpti.

(4) Darriwill Series. Characterised by Trigonograptus wilkinsoni. Also contain Diplograptus, Glossograptus and Lasiograptus, whilst Didymograptus is rare.

Lower Ordovician Graptolites, New Zealand.—

In New Zealand Lower Ordovician Graptolites are found in the Kakanui Series, at Nelson, north-west of South Island. Some of the commoner forms are Didymograptus extensus, D. caduceus, Loganograptus logani, Phyllograptus typus, Tetragraptus similis and T. quadribrachiatus.

Graptolites agreeing closely with those of the Lancefield Series of Victoria occur near Preservation Inlet in the extreme South-west, and have been identified as Clonograptus rigidus, Bryograptus victoriae and Tetragraptus decipiens.

Upper Ordovician Graptolites, Victoria.—

The Upper Ordovician rocks of Victoria, as at Wombat Creek and Mount Wellington in Gippsland, and at Diggers’ Rest near Sunbury, contain the double branched forms like Dicranograptus ramosus, Dicellograptus elegans and D. sextans; the sigmoidal form Stephanograptus gracilis; and the diprionidian (biserial) forms as Diplograptus tardus, Climacograptus bicornis, Cryptograptus tricornis, Glossograptus hermani and Lasiograptus margaritatus (Fig. 75).

Upper Ordovician Graptolites, New South Wales.—

In New South Wales, at Tallong, the Upper Ordovician Graptolites are well represented by such forms as Dicellograptus elegans, Dicranograptus nicholsoni, Diplograptus carnei, D. foliaceus, Cryptograptus tricornis and Glossograptus quadrimucronatus, etc. Other localities in New South Wales for this Graptolite fauna are Stockyard Creek, Currowang, Tingaringi, Lawson, and Mandurama.

Tasmania.—

From Tasmania a Diplograptus has been recorded, but the particular horizon and locality are uncertain.

Silurian Graptolites, Victoria.—

In the Silurian shales at Keilor, in Victoria, Monograptus is a common genus, and Cyrtograptus and Retiolites australis (Fig. 75 F) also occur. Several species of Monograptus have also been found at South Yarra and Studley Park. At the latter place and Walhalla Monograptus dubius, which is a Wenlock and Ludlow fossil in Britain, has been found in some abundance (Fig. 75 G).

COMMON OR CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTER.

SPONGES.

Protospongia sp. Cambrian: S. Australia.

Hyalostelia sp. Cambrian: S. Australia.

Protospongia oblonga, Hall. L. Ordovician: Victoria.

Stephanella maccoyi, Hall. L. Ordovician: Victoria.

Carpospongia sp. Silurian: Yass, New South Wales.

Receptaculites fergusoni, Chapman. Silurian: Victoria.

Receptaculites australis, Salter sp. Devonian: Victoria and New South Wales. Carboniferous: Queensland.

(?) Lasiocladia hindei, Eth. fil. Carbopermian: Queensland.

Purisiphonia clarkei, Bowerbank. Lower Cretaceous: Queensland.

Geodia sp. Cainozoic: W. Australia.

Tethya sp. Cainozoic: W. Australia.

Ecionema newberyi, McCoy sp. Cainozoic: Victoria.

Plectroninia halli, Hinde. Cainozoic (Janjukian): Victoria.

Tretocalia pezica, Hinde. Cainozoic (Janjukian): Victoria.

ARCHAEOCYATHINAE.

Protopharetra scoulari, Etheridge, fil. Cambrian: S. Australia.

Coscinocyathus australis, Taylor. Cambrian: S. Australia.

Archaeocyathina ajax, Taylor. Cambrian: S. Australia.

CORALS.

Cyathophyllum approximans, Chapman. Silurian: Victoria.

Tryplasma liliiformis, Etheridge, fil. Silurian: New South Wales.

Favosites grandipora, Etheridge fil. Silurian: Victoria.

Pleurodictyum megastomum, Dun. Silurian: Victoria.

Halysites peristephicus, Etheridge, fil. Silurian: New South Wales.

Heliolites interstincta, LinnÉ sp. Silurian: Victoria.

Campophyllum gregorii, Eth. fil. Middle Devonian: Victoria and Queensland.

Cystiphyllum australasicum, Eth. fil. Middle Devonian: New South Wales and Queensland.

Favosites multitabulata, Eth. fil. Middle Devonian: Victoria and New South Wales.

Pachypora meridionalis, Eth. fil. Middle Devonian: Queensland.

Zaphrentis culleni, Eth. fil. Carboniferous: New South Wales.

Lophophyllum corniculum, de Koninck. Carboniferous: New South Wales.

Zaphrentis profunda, Eth. fil. Carbopermian: Queensland.

Campophyllum columnare, Eth. fil. Carbopermian: New South Wales.

Trachypora wilkinsoni, Eth. fil. Carbopermian: New South Wales.

Stenopora tasmaniensis, Lonsdale. Carbopermian: Tasmania and New South Wales.

Flabellum gambierense, Duncan. Cainozoic: Victoria, S. Australia and Tasmania.

Placotrochus deltoideus, Duncan. Cainozoic: Victoria, S. Australia and Tasmania.

Sphenotrochus emarciatus, Duncan. Cainozoic: Victoria, S. Australia, and Tasmania.

Ceratotrochus exilis, Dennant. Cainozoic: Victoria.

Conosmilia elegans, Duncan. Cainozoic: Victoria.

Balanophyllia armata, Duncan. Cainozoic: Victoria.

Thamnastraea sera, Duncan. Cainozoic: Victoria and Tasmania.

Graphularia senescens, Tate sp. Cainozoic: Victoria and S. Australia.

HYDROZOA.

Clathrodictyon (?) regulare, Rosen sp. Silurian: Victoria.

Actinostroma clathratum, Nicholson. Devonian: W. Australia.

Stromatoporella eifeliensis, Nich. Devonian: W. Australia.

Dictyonema pulchella, T. S. Hall. Lower Ordovician: Victoria.

Ptilograptus sp. L. Ordovician: Victoria.

Callograptus sp. Lower Ordovician: Victoria.

GRAPTOLITES.

Bryograptus victoriae, T. S. Hall. Lower Ordovician (Lancefield Series): Victoria.

Tetragraptus fruticosus, J. Hall. L. Ordovician (Bendigo Series): Victoria.

Didymograptus caduceus, Salter. L. Ordovician (Castlemaine Series): Victoria. Also New Zealand.

Didymograptus bifidus, J. Hall. L. Ordovician (Castlemaine Series): Victoria. Also New Zealand.

Trigonograptus wilkinsoni, T. S. Hall. L. Ordovician (Darriwill Series): Victoria.

Dicranograptus ramosus, J. Hall sp. Upper Ordovician: Victoria.

Monograptus dubius, Suess. Silurian: Victoria.

Retiolites australis, McCoy. Silurian: Victoria.

LITERATURE.

SPONGES.

Cambrian.—Tate, R. Trans. R. Soc. S. Austr., vol. XV. (N.S.), 1892, p. 188.

Ordovician.—Hall, T. S. Proc. R. Soc. Vict., vol. I. pt. I. 1889, pp. 60, 61 (Protospongia). Idem, ibid., vol. XI. (N.S.), pt. II. 1899, pp. 152-155 (Protospongia and Stephanella).

Silurian to Carboniferous.—Salter, J. W. Canad. Org. Rem. Dec. I. 1859, p. 47. Etheridge, R. jnr. and Dun, W. S. Rec. Geol. Surv. New South Wales, vol. VI. 1898, pp. 62-75. Chapman, F. Proc. R. Soc. Vict. vol. XVIII. (N.S.), pt. 1, 1905, pp. 5-15.

Carbopermian.—Etheridge, R. jnr., in Geol. and Pal. Q., 1892, p. 199.

Cretaceous.—Bowerbank, J. S. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1869, p. 342. Etheridge, R. jnr. in Geol. and Pal. Queensland, 1892, pp. 438, 439 (Purisiphonia).

Cainozoic.—McCoy, F. Prod. Pal. Vict., Dec. V. 1877. Chapman, F. Proc. R. Soc. Vict., vol. XX. (N.S.), pt. 2, 1908, pp. 210-212 (Ecionema). Hinde, G. J. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. LVI., 1900, pp. 50-56 (calcisponges). Idem, Bull. Geol. Surv. W. Austr., No. 36, 1910, pp. 7-21 (sponge-spicules).

ARCHAEOCYATHINAE.

Etheridge, R. jnr., Trans. R. Soc. S. Austr., vol. XIII. 1890, pp. 10-22. Taylor, T. G. Mem. Roy. Soc. S. Austr., vol. II., pt. 2, 1910 (a monograph).

CORALS.

Silurian.—Etheridge, R. jnr. Rec. Geol. Surv. New South Wales, vol. II. pt. 1, 1890, pp. 15-21 (Silurian and Devonian). Idem, ibid., vol. II. pt. 4, 1892, pp. 165-174 (Silurian and Devonian). Idem, in Pal. and Geol. Queensland, 1892. Idem, Rec. Austr. Mus., vol. I., No. 10, 1891, pp. 201-205 (Rhizophyllum). Id., ibid., vol. III. No. 2, 1897, pp. 30-33 (Columnaria). Id., Prog. Rep. Geol. Surv. Vict., No. 11, 1899, pp. 30-36. Idem, Mem. Geol. Surv. New South Wales, No. 13, pt. I., 1904 (Halysites). Id., ibid., No. 13, pt. 2, 1907 (Tryplasma). De Koninck, L. G. ibid., Pal. No. 6, 1898. Shearsby, A. J. Geol. Mag., Dec. V., vol. III. 1906, pp. 547-552. Chapman, F. Rec. Geol. Surv. Vict., vol. II. pt. 1, 1907, pp. 67-80.

Devonian.—Etheridge, R. jnr. and Foord, A. H. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. V., vol. XIV., 1884, pp. 175-179 (Alveolites and Amplexopora = Litophyllum). Etheridge, R. jnr., in Geol. and Pal. Queensland, 1892. Idem, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, vol. IX. 1895, pp. 518-539. Id., Rec. Geol. Surv. New South Wales, vol. VI. pt. 3, 1899, pp. 152-182 (Tamworth District). Id., Rec. Austr. Mus., vol. IV. No. 7, 1902, pp. 253-260. De Koninck, L. G. Mem. Geol. Surv. New South Wales, Pal. No. 6, 1898. Chapman, F. Rec. Geol. Surv. Vict., vol. III, pt. 2, 1912, pp. 215-222.

Carbopermian.—Etheridge, R. jnr. Mem. Geol. Surv. New South Wales, Pal. No. 5, 1891. Idem, in Geol. and Pal. Queensland, 1892. Id., Bull. Geol. Surv., W. Austr., No. 10, 1903, pp. 8-10.

Cainozoic.—Duncan, P. M. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. XXVI. 1870, pp. 284-318; vol. XXXI. 1875, pp. 673-678; vol. XXXII. 1876, pp. 341-351. Woods, T. Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, vol. XI., 1878, pp. 183-195; ibid., vol. XXX. 1879, pp. 57-61. Idem, Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Austr., vol. I., 1878, pp. 104-119. Dennant, J. Trans. R. Soc. S. Austr., vols. XXIII. (1899) to XXVIII. (1904).

STROMATOPOROIDS.

Hinde, G. J. Geol. Mag., Dec. III. vol. VII, 1890, p. 193.

GRAPTOLITES.

McCoy, F. Prod. Pal. Vict., Decades I. (1874): II. (1875): V. (1877). Hall, T. S. Proc. Roy. Soc. Vict., vol. IV. p. I. 1892, pp. 7, 8 (Dictyonema). Idem, Geol. Mag. Dec. IV. vol. VI. 1899, pp. 438-451; Id., Rep. Austr. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Brisbane, 1909, pp. 318-320. Id., Rec. Geol. Surv. Vict., vol. I. pt. 4, 1906, pp. 266-278. Id., ibid., vol. III. pt. 2, 1912, pp. 188-211. Idem, Rec. Geol. Surv. New South Wales, vol. VII. part 1, 1910, pp. 16, 17. Ibid., pp. 49-59.