CAPE CHIDLEY, HUDSON STRAIT.
A single coral from this locality is represented by two fragments that have apparently been broken from a larger mass. The exact form of the corallum is unknown, but the structure of the corallites is well preserved and clearly seen in longitudinal and traverse sections. Its structural characteristics are quite different from those of any form known to the writer, and it is regarded as representing a new genus and species named and characterized as follows:—
Labyrinthites. Gen. nov.
Corallum massive, made up of very slender, long, columnar corallites, upwardly directed and parallel, each one connected along the whole of its length with two or three adjacent corallites in tortuous series separated by narrow interspaces. Tabulæ, complete, distant. No septa nor tubules.
Although the manner of growth of this coral resembles somewhat that of Halysites it could scarcely be referred to that genus, on account of the absence of septa and tubules, although in Halysites catenularia var. gracilis tubules are apparently wanting. The small size of the corallites would not necessarily be considered a character sufficient to constitute generic distinction. Another genus, Fletcheria, may be considered, but Labyrinthites has little in common with it. In both, the tabulæ are distant and simple, practically the only point of resemblance unless we notice the small size of the corallites of Fletcheria and the stated rudimentary condition of its septa.
As the want of septa in the Cape Chidley specimens may be due to imperfect fossilization, Labyrinthites is, on account of its mode of growth, provisionally classed with the Halysitidæ.
X30
Labyrinthites chidlensis. Sp. nov.
Corallum massive, composed of slender, straight, upright corallites with numerous interspaces. Corallites a little less than ·33 mm. in average diameter, quadrangular or five or six sides in transverse outline, with rather thick walls. Each corallite coalesces along its entire length with two or three adjacent ones, giving rise to a meandering succession of tubes inclosing narrow spaces not wider than the corallites themselves. In the specimens examined the corallites reach a maximum length of ·30 mm. In longitudinal sections tabulæ, in the form of thin, flat, transverse plates across the corallites, are observed, between ·5 and 1·5 mm. apart. There are no tubules between contiguous corallites, and the mural union appears to be complete.