CORALS FROM MURRAY, COCOS-KEELING, AND FANNING ISLANDS. l8q 



Bernard in his "Pontes of the Indo-Pacific" divides the forms of Poritcs from 

 Australia into four subgroups and recognizes the following numbers of variations: 

 Great Barrier Reef, 42; Northeast Australia, 2; North Australia, 8; Northwest 

 Australia, 8. The descriptions are of morphologic variations according to locality, 

 without any attempt to group them into species or to correlate forms found in one 

 area with those found in another, except in a general and rather indefinite way. 

 The work is morphologic, not systematic, and it is a well-nigh hopeless task to group 

 the variations described into a systematic arrangement. 



As this is considered the most difficult of coral genera, the technique I use in 

 studying specimens belonging to it will be briefly described. The general mor- 

 phology of the poritid skeleton has been described by Bernard in two publications 1 

 and I have considered the subject in two of my papers. 2 These may be consulted 

 for the nomenclature of the different skeletal elements. I have had a number, 

 some thousands, of prints made of the outline diagram represented 

 by figure 2. I begin the study of a specimen by examining it under 

 a binocular microscope to ascertain the septal and palar arrangements, 

 the character and number of the septal granules, and the nature of 

 the wall, after which a diagram of the features is made by filling in FlG 2 _Qutline 

 a printed outline and it is dropped into the tray with the specimen. diagram of 

 After each has been gone over in this way, the specimens are septa in a coral 

 classified, detailed descriptions are written of one or more represen- 

 tatives of each different species, and a tentative synopsis of the specific characters 

 is prepared. The next step is to have enlarged photographs made of the calices; 

 8 diameters has been found a convenient enlargement. The synopsis is then 

 checked by a study of the photographs and by reference to the specimens. This 

 method apparently promises satisfactory results. 



The number of specific descriptions on this paper is 17, of which 3 are based 

 on Dana's types, and 1 is of a specimen referred by him to P. conglomerata (Esper), 

 subsequently made the type of P. lutea by Milne Edwards. The number of descrip- 

 tions of species in my monograph of the Hawaiian Madreporaria is 18, of which 15 

 are original (entirely or in part) and 3 are quoted. As 3 of the species are common 

 to this and the Hawaiian papers, the two together contain descriptions of 32 species 

 of Indo-Pacific Pontes. In an account of the Madreporaria collected on the 

 Albatross expedition to the eastern tropical Pacific in 1904-1905, I described Pontes 

 paschalensis 3 from Easter Island, making 33 species of Indo-Pacific species of the 

 genus especially considered by me. As it is important to have information on 

 Dana's types, I list those of his types or original specimens from the Indo-Pacific 

 in the U. S. National Museum and refer to those I have redescribed (see p. 190). 



Of 18 species or varieties represented in the collection, I have redescribed and 

 figured 12. I should like to complete describing the collection, but can not do so 

 at present. However, that I have described 12 of the 21 forms of Indo-Pacific Porites 

 recognized by Dana may be of some assistance to other students (see table on next 

 page). In my Hawaiian paper I redescribed and figured Verrill's type of P. tenuis. 

 Bernard, notwithstanding his failure to conform to nomenclatorial usage, has 

 aided systematic work on the genus by redescribing and figuring the types of 

 Quelch and of Gardiner deposited in the British Museum (Natural History). 



'On the structure of Porites, with preliminary notes on the soft parts, Jour. Linn. Soc. London, vol. 27, 

 pp. 487-503, plate 35, 1900; and Porites of the Indo-Pacific region, Cat. of Madrepor. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), vol. 



5> I9°5- 



2 Recent Madreporaria of the Hawaiian Islands and Laysan, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull 59, pp. 169-217, 1907; 



and H. M. Bernard's work on the poritid corals [review], Science, n. s., vol. 26, pp. 373-378, Sept. 20, 1907. 



'Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 50, pp. 7 I_ 7 2 > plates 9, 10, 1906. 



