208 CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



Eupsammiidse in Professor Herdman's collection, leaving it to be understood that the 

 words " secondary," " tertiary," &c, indicate only the size of the septa, and not their 

 order of succession. And in this connection it may be noted that de Lacaze 

 Duthier's account (33) of the septal succession in Balanophyllia regia differs widely 

 from that of Pourt ales' account of B. jloridana, and therefore from Dtjerden's. I 

 am inclined to think, however, that de Lacaze Duthiers missed the actual 

 succession of the development of the septa. An inspection of his figures (Plate x., 

 figs. 23 and 29) will show that they are not inconsistent with Dtjerden's and 

 Pourtales' accounts. In fig. 23, the septa marked 2 are clearly bifurcated at their 

 distal ends, and the sclerite lying within each bifurcation gives every appearance of 

 having been formed independently and having become secondarily united with the 

 inner limb of the bifurcated secondary. In fig. 29 the septum marked 3 is equal in 

 size to, and clearly continuous with, the inner end of the septum marked 2, the latter 

 thinning out very much towards its point of union with the angle of the Y. And in 

 the same figure the " tertiary " septum occupies the position of a " quaternary," and 

 the septa that occupy the positions of " tertiaries " are described as subsequent 

 formations. They are clearly the new entoccelic septa formed between the bifurcated 

 peripheral ends of the exocoelic septa marked 3. 



Balanophyllia parallela, Semper Plate I., figs. 6 and 6a. 



Rhodopsammia parallela, Semper, ' Zeit. fur Wiss. Zool.,' xx., 1872. 

 Ehodopsainmia parallela, Fowler, ' Quart. Jour. Mier. Sci.,' xxv., new ser., 1885. 



A single specimen from the pearl banks, Gulf of Manaar. Height of corallum 

 29 millims. ; longer axis of calice 18 millims. ; shorter axis 13 millims. ; depth of 

 calice 8 millims. In this specimen the outline of the calice is not so hexagonal as in 

 the Philippine form described by Semper, and the base is narrow and pedicellate, 

 whereas the Philippine forms are free and pointed below. Septa in six systems and 

 five cycles, the fifth cycle being incomplete. The primary and secondary septa are 

 equal in size, similar and somewhat exsert ; their outer ends are thickened and 

 porous, their inner ends sharp, entire, and descend nearly vertically to unite with the 

 columella ; their sides are ornamented with radiating rows of very small granules ; 

 their upper ends more or less fenestrate. The tertiary septa are smaller and their 

 inner ends become thickened and trabecular and pass into the columella ; each is 

 joined at two-thirds of its length from the lip of the calice by the quaternary septa. 

 There is an incomplete cycle of quinary septa, which can best be described by saying 

 that the peripheral ends of the quaternaries bifurcate and a small septum is developed 

 between their bifurcated ends in each directive moiety of the four primary systems 

 adjoining the directive septa, and the same arrangement is present in all but one of 

 the four outer moieties of the same systems. The quaternary septa are not bifurcated 

 in the lateral primary system on one side of the coral, and on the other side only one 

 is bifurcated and contains an entoccelic septum in each of the moieties of the system, 



