THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



[THIRD SERIES.] 

 No. 18. JUNE 1859, 



XLIV. — On the Increase of Madrepores. By Mrs. Thynne. 

 With Notes by P. H. Gosse, F.R.S. 



[With a Plate.] 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, 



We know so little of the reproduction of our native Caryo- 

 phylliacea, that any mite of authentic information on the subject 

 would be welcomed by the zoologist. A series of observations, 

 therefore, so extensive as those recorded in the following Notes, 

 so uninterrupted, so fortunate in their results, and so intelli- 

 gently watched, cannot but be of great value. The MS. was 

 kindly put into my hands by the lady who observed the facts, 

 about three years since, with the generous permission to use it 

 as I saw good. I had intended, in consequence, to enrich the 

 pages of my ^Actinologia Britannica' with these memoirs; but 

 I find that I could do so only by considerably abridging them ; 

 and as I judge that their scientific value is such that they ought 

 to be published in extenso, I beg to hand them to you. 



I add a i&N words of comment of my own at the end of the 

 Notes, together with a letter from Mrs. Thynne, containing 

 additional evidence. 



I am, Gentlemen, 



Your obedient Servant, 

 Torquay, April 6, 1859. P. H. GosSE. 



On the Increase of Madrepores. By Mrs. Thynne. 



1. In the autumn of 1846, when touring through Devon- 

 shire, I first met with the living Madrepore. Having for many 

 years derived much pleasure from the study of geology, I felt 



Ann. &^ Mag. N, Hist, Ser. 3. Vol.'m. 29 



