A monograph of the British fossil corals - kreidefossilien.de

44 BRITISH POSSIL CORALS.
CHAPTER HI.
CORALS OF THE UPPER CHALK.
The fossil Corals found iu the Upper Chalk of England are not numerous ; they
belong principally to the section of simple Eusmilinse, and appear to be pecuUar to the
British Fauna. One species, it is true (the Parasmilia centralis), has been mentioned by
different geologists as existing also in the Chalk of Beauvais and in the north-west of
Germany, but we have great reason to think that these fossils are not specifically identical.
It is also worthy of notice, that even no species corresponding to those met with among
the Corals of the Upper Chalk of England have as yet been seen in the Chalk of Meudon,
and that a great difference exists between the predominant generical forms in the first of
these formations, and iu the Chalk of Maestricht. In the latter some Cyathininse nearly
allied to that of England are met with ; but the Diploctenium, the Cyclolites, and the
aggregate Astreida; of Maestricht are represented by no corresponding forms in this part of
the British fossil Fauna, and the organic remains found in these two cretaceous deposits
have consequently a very different aspect. We must add, that the fossil Corals of the Chalk
of Faxoe are equally distinct from the British species, and that none of the latter have
been met with in the Lower Chalk Formations of England.
Order ZOANTHAEIA (p.
ix).
Family TURBINOLID^ (p.
xi).
Tribe CYATHININtE (p.
xii).
Genus Cyathina (p.
xii).
Cyathina laevigata. Tab. IX, figs. 1, la, \b, \c. Id.
Cyathina LiEviGATA, Milne Edwards and J. Haime, Monogr. des Turbinolides ; Aun. des Sc.
Nat., 3"" serie, voL ix, p. 290, 1848.
MoNOCARYA CENTRALIS {pars), Lonsdale, in Dixon's unpublished work on the Chalk Formations
and Tertiary Deposits of Susse.x, tab. xviii, figs. 12, 12a,
(perhaps also fig. 5, but not the other figures bearing the
same name, which are Parasmilia and probably Coslosmilia)
Corallum simple, elongated, adherent, cylindro-turbinate, straight, and in general
much contracted just above the basis, which is broad. Walls quite smooth, and polished