V.—Palæontological Notes

Extract

1. Arbusculites argentea, P. Murray (Edinb. N. Phil. Journ. 1831, vol. xi. p. 147).—Under the title, “Account of the Arbusculites argentea, from the Carboniferous Limestone of Inverteil, near to Kirkcaldy, in Fifeshire,” a curious paper was published in 1831, by Dr. P. Murray, of Scarborough. The organisms are described as “very delicate vermiform bodies, in fragments of different lengths, shining with metallic lustre, neither articulated nor cellular, and resembling broken bits of silver wire.” The author adds, “It would appear to have been an attached Mollusc, dichotomous at first, but afterwards sending out lateral branches, moderately tapering, and with very distant and obscure (if any) articulations, grooved longitudinally, and composed of a bright silvery cortical case, and a solid axis of carbonate of lime. … It differs decidedly from the Crinoidal animals, which are regularly articulated; and varies nearly in the same degree from the Corallines, etc., by not displaying the cellular structure characteristic of that family.” Dr. Murray ultimately places this fossil amongst the Corallines, selecting for it a provisional resting-place in the third order of the first class of Lamouroux.