156 A. E. Verritt — Bermudian and West Indian Reef Corals. 



in this. But the type of Plesioseris has distinct synapticula and a 

 well developed papillary columella, which are not found in our 

 genus. 



The resemblance to the fossil genus Oroseris* is very close, in the 

 form and mode of grouping of the calicles, and in the low, irregular 

 collines, as well as in the foliaceous form of the coral. But Oroseris, 

 according to Duncan, does not have solid mural and colline walls, 

 these parts, as seen in sections, being trabecular. Were it not for 

 this character, I should have considered this coral a living species 

 of Oroseris or Comoseris, which it certainly closely resembles. 



The grouped arrangement of the calicles is somewhat like that of 

 Polyastra venosa Ehr.,f p. loo, 1S74, but the latter seems to form a 

 massive, astreiform coral. It is, however, only imperfectly known, 

 the description being very incomplete and without a figure. 



The form, general appearance, and the characters of the septo- 

 costse are somewhat like those of Pachyseris, but the latter does not 

 have stellate calicles and its collines are much larger and more 

 reerular. 



-» 



Asteroseris planulata (Dana) Ver. 



Agaricia {Mycedia) planulata Dana. Zooph., p. 338, 1846. 

 Agaricia f planulata Edw. and Hahne, Hist. Corall., iii, p. 84, I860. 

 Asteroseris planulata Verrill, in Dana, Coral Islands, ed. i, p. 383, 1872 ; ed. 

 3, p. 424, 1890. 



Plate XXVII. Figl-re 8. 



The type specimen was a broad, thin frond, half a line thick, 

 attached only at one point. Dana states that it was in the Museum 

 of the Lyceum of Natural History, Utica, N. Y. 



A fragment of this specimen, used by him for figuring the details, 

 and now preserved in the Yale Museum, affords the following 

 description : — 



The calicles are polygonal and very shallow or superficial, being 

 only slightly concave, except at the minute central pit, which is 

 deep ; they are about 4 to 4.5 mm broad when full grown, but many 

 are only '2 to 2.5 mm . They are often placed singly, with a slightly 

 raised solid wall over which the septa are confluent and in part 



* Oroseris Edw. and Haime, Pol. Foss. Paheoz., p. 130, 1851 ; Hist. Corall., 

 ii, p. 78, 1860. 



\ This genus is probably identical with Tichoseris Quelch, (Ann. and Mag. 

 Nat. Hist., xiii, p. 295, 1884). The type of the latter is an astreiform coral 

 from the Fiji Islands. 



