The Genus Lonsdaleia and Dibunophyllum Rugosum (McCoy)

Abstract

I. Introduction. Lonsdaleia is a genus of the Rugose Corals of colonial habit belonging to the Clisiophyllidæ; Dibunophyllum rugosum is also a colonial coral and a member of the same family; but the other species of the genus Dibunophyllum are, with very rare exceptions, simple corals. My reasons for including a description of Dibunophyllum rugosum in a communication primarily dealing with Lonsdaleia are—the fact that the former was originally described by McCoy as Lonsdaleia rugosa, and that considerable confusion has arisen between it and the fasciculate forms of Lonsdaleia . An acknowledgment of thanks is due, in the first place, to those gentlemen who have generously assisted me with the material of research. To Dr. A. Smith Woodward, Dr. F. L. Kitchin, Prof. T. McK. Hughes, and Mr. Leonard Gill, I am indebted for the use of specimens preserved in the British Museum (Natural History), the Museum of Practical Geology, the Sedgwick Museum (Cambridge), and the Hancock Museum (Newcastle-upon-Tyne). I am under special obligation to Dr. Smith Woodward and Prof. Hughes for access to the holotypes of species named by Phillips, Lonsdale, and McCoy. For placing at my disposal the results of their own collecting, I thank Mr. John Bishop, Mr. R. G. Carruthers, Mr. C. H. Cunnington, Mr. J. A. Douglas, Prof. E. J. Garwood, Prof. O. T. Jones, Mr. T. Herdman, Dr. Wheelton Hind, Prof. S. H. Reynolds, Prof. T. F. Sibly, Mr. C. T. Trechmann, Dr. A. Vaughan, Dr. A. Wilmore, and Dr. D. Woolacott. I have myself