REPORT ON CORALS— DEEP-SEA MADREPORARIA. 185 



whether it may not have been actually derived from some other dredging, and have lain 

 for some time entangled in the swabs. 



Station 320, off the mouth of the Eio de la Plata. 600 fathoms ? 



Cladocora conferta, n. sp. (PI. X. fig. 5, 5a). 



The corallum forms small irregular masses, in which the individuals are closely 

 packed together. In the specimens obtained the interstices in the masses are filled in 

 with extraneous growths of all kinds and particles derived from the sea bottom, which 

 are firmly cemented together. There are six systems and four cycles, three of which are 

 complete, the septa of the fourth cycle being small and rudimentary. There is a well- 

 marked but rather shallow fossa. The pali are irregularly developed, but paliform lobes 

 are usually present on all the septa except those of the fourth cycle ; those of the tertiary 

 septa are most prominent, and sometimes form a well-marked and complete crown. The 

 columella is large, and composed of abundant papillae. The whole of the surface of the 

 corallum and septa is roughened by abundant fine-pointed granules. 



Height of the largest sj^ecimen, 3 mm. Average breadth of the calicles, 4 mm. 

 to 5 mm. 



Off Samboangau, Mindanao Island, Philippine Islands. 30 fathoms and 10 fathoms. 



Family Fungid^e. 



Sub-famdy Lophoserinse, Milne-Edwards and Haime. 



Bathyactis, n. gen. 



Corallum free, discoid, not attached or cup-shaped in the young condition, thin and 

 fragde ; primary septa free, the others united so as to form six deltoid combinations ; 

 upper margins of the septa usually coalescent over the apices of the deltas. Septa deeply 

 toothed ; synapticulae sometimes abundant, sometimes few, arranged in a series of con- 

 centric circles. Columella well developed. 



The very widely-distributed coral named by Count Pourtales Fungia symmetrica can 

 scarcely be considered to fall naturally into the genus Fungia, especially now that its 

 larger varieties are known. It is obviously, from its general appearance, nearly related 

 to Lophoseris. It differs from Fungia in having its primary septa free, and in having 

 a well-developed columella. Its extreme lightness and fragUity and the regular deltoid 

 arrangement of its septa in combination with the presence of synapticulae, are charac- 

 teristic of it. 



I am not sure whether Fungiacyathus fragilis of Professor M. Sars 1 will not prove 



1 Professor M. Sars, On Some Remarkable Forms of Animal Life from tlie Great Depths off the Norwegian Coast, 

 p. 58, pi. v. figs. 24-32. Christiania, 1872. 



(ZOOL. CHALL. EXP. — PART VII.- — 1880.) G 24 



