CORALS FROM MURRAY, COCOS-KEELING, AND FANNING ISLANDS. 105 



The corallites are 8 to 8.5 mm. in greater diameter and 6.5 to 7 mm. in lesser 

 diameter; distance between corallite walls, 2 to 3 mm. There are 3 complete cycles 

 of septa, and a variable number, usually only 3 or 4, of quaternary septa. About 12 

 septa reach the columella; the others are shorter, with free inner ends. Wall and 

 septa thin; endothecal and exothecal dissepiments greatly developed, but thin. The 

 texture of the corallum is very light. Columella weakly developed. 



Distribution. — Red Sea; Djibouti; Maldives; Chagos; Ceylon; Cocos-Keeling 

 Islands; Great Barrier Reef; Amboina; Philippines; Fiji Islands; Fanning Island. 



Favia pallida (Dana). 



Plate 38, figure 1, Dana's type of Astraa pallida; figures 2-7, variants from Murray Island. Also plate 16, figures 



26, 27, 29, 30, of Dr. Mayer's article. 



1846. Asircea pallida Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 224, plate 10, figs. 13, 133-13^. 

 1846. Astraa versipora Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 233, plate 12, figs 5a, 5A (non Lamarck). 

 1846. Astraa denticulata Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 234, plate 12, figs. 6, 6a-6V. 

 1872. Astraa cellulosa Verrill, in Dana's Corals and Coral Islands, p. 381 (non Duncan, 1863). 

 1914. Favia doreyensis Matthai, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., 2d ser., Zool., vol. 17, p. 84, plate 9, figs. 1, 3; 

 plate 22, figs. 8, 9; plate 32, figs. 2, 3. 



It is my belief that Favia hululensis Gardiner also is a synonym of F. pallida. 

 The specimens which I am designating Facies 1 not only correspond to Matthai's 1 

 characterization of F. hululensis, but are the same as Ehrenberg's specimens of 

 Favia rotulosa, three photographs of which Dr. Wilhelm Weltner sent me in 1902, two 

 views natural size, and one view X2. One of these views is the same as the one 

 reproduced by Matthai on plate 35, figure I. I also wrote a detailed description 

 of the specimen while in Berlin in 1897, and Dr. Weltner subsequently sent me 

 additional notes on it. Matthai says regarding hululensis: 1 "In general appear- 

 ance this species is like a small edition of Favia doreyensis." 



Professor Graham Kerr has sent me photographs of the type of Madrepora 

 rotulosa Ellis and Solander, preserved in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow. I 

 have not positively identified this species. It is close to Facies 1 of F. pallida, 

 but apparently distinct. 



Tbe following is a description of Dana's type of Astraa pallida, No. 30. U. S. 

 National Museum, from Fiji Islands (see plate 38, fig. 1): 



Corallum hemispherical, 90 mm. in diameter, 45 mm. thick. 



Calices subcircular or elliptical. Diameter 9 to 1 1 mm. in circular calices; greater 

 diameter of those elliptical in outline up to 11 mm. Margins on upper side elevated up 

 to 5 mm.; on lower side may not be elevated. Depth up to 4 mm. or slightly more. Dis- 

 tance apart 2 to 5 mm. Intercorallite furrows between calices crossed by costae, those of 

 adjacent corallites usually but not always continuous. 



Costae subequal, correspond to all septa, tall and plate-like, exsert up to 1.5 mm.; 

 sides nearly vertical; separated by interspaces up to I mm. wide. Rudimentary costae, 

 corresponding to which there are no, or only inconspicuous, septa, often alternate with the 

 larger ones. Edges finely dentate. 



In mature calices, 11 mm. in diameter, 18 septa reach the columella; there are 20 

 also well-developed but shorter septa, and a few very rudimentary septa corresponding to 

 the smallest costae. A small calice, 7.5 mm. in diameter, has 9 principal and u small but 

 well-developed, and a few obscure, rudimentary septa. The outer ends somewhat thickened 

 in the thecal ring, often forming a pseudo-theca; in places, however, where the rudimentary 

 costae are absent, the interseptal spaces in the thecal ring seem to have only dissepiments 

 in them. Inner portions of septa somewhat thinner than that in the thecal rings. Edges 

 exsert up to 1.75 mm., those of the principals slightly the more prominent. Upper margins 

 arched, rather regularly and finely dentate; inner margins sloping or perpendicular, with 

 several coarser dentations, the larger near the columella. Faces with small, conical granu- 

 lations. 



*0p. cit., p. 87. 



