112 PAPERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. 



Station, Murray Island.— Southeast reef, line I, 1,635 feet f rom shore; water 

 16 inches deep at lowest tide; hard, rocky bottom. 



Distribution.— -Red Sea; Chagos; Murray Island; Philippine Islands; Fiji 



Islands. 



Favites pentagona (Esper). 



Plate 42, figure I, reproduction of Esper's enlarged view of the calices; figure 2, specimen from French Somaliland 



1794. Madrepora pentagona Esper, Pflanzenth., Fortsetz., p. 29, plate 39, figs. I, 2. 



1816. Astrea deformis Lamarck, Hist. nat. Anim. sans Vert., vol. 2, p. 264. 



1848. Aphrastrea deformis Milne Edwards and Haime, Acad. Sci., Comptes rend., vol. 27, p. 446. 



1848. Aphrastrea deformis Milne Edwards and Haime, Ann. Sci. nat., 3d ser., Zool., vol. 10, p. 320, plate 9, 



figs, n, \\a. 



1849. Aphrastrea deformis Milne Edwards and Haime, Ann. Sci. nat., 3d ser., Zool., vol. II, p. 165. 

 1857. Aphrastrtea deformis Milne Edwards and Haime, Hist. nat. Corall., vol. 2, p. 452. 



1904. Aphrastrcea deformis Gardiner, Fauna and Geogr. Maldive and Laccadive Arch., p. 773, plate 63, 



fig 3'- 



1907. Aphrastrea deformis Vaughan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 32, p. 255. 



1914. Aphrastrea deformis Matthai, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 2d ser., Zool., vol. 17, p. 122. 



Non : 



1914. Favia pentagona Matthai, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 2d ser., Zool., vol. 17, p. 95. plate 10, fig. 5, 

 plate 24, figs. 2-4; plate 36, fig. 4, which = Favites melicerum (Ehrenberg). 



Plate 42, figure i, is a reproduction of Esper's enlarged view of the calices of 

 his Madrepora pentagona. Comparison with figure I, which he says is natural size, 

 shows the enlargement to be 2.5 times. Plate 42, figure 2, represents the calices 

 of a specimen collected by Dr. Charles Gravier at Djibouti, French Somaliland. 

 These calices are also enlarged 2.5 times. It is obvious that the two figures repre- 

 sent the same species. 



Plate 42, figure 2, shows that asexual reproduction is by marginal fission, as only 

 a small part of a corner of the parent polyp is cut off to form the new one. In this 

 and other characters the affinity to Favites abdita, the genotype, is evident.^ Milne 

 Edwards and Haime say regarding Aphrastrea in their original diagnosis: "Differe 

 des Goniastree par ses murailles tres-developpees et entierement vesiculeuses." In 

 places there is distinct theca between the distal ends of the septa, but it is inter- 

 rupted, as is the theca in Mcrandra decdalea, species of Physogyra, etc. The en- 

 dotheca is greatly developed, very vesicular, and the corallum is light. As the 

 interruption of the wall does not seem a character of generic value, I am referring 

 Aphrastrea to Favites and place it near F. abdita. 



Favia pentagona of Matthai is an entirely different species, to which Ehrenberg 

 (according to Matthai) applied the name Astrcea melicerum. 



Distribution— F rench Somaliland; Maldives; and Indian Ocean without specific 

 localities. Not reported from the Pacific. 



Favites melicerum (Ehrenberg). 



Plate 41, figures 6, 6a, specimen from Cocos-Keeling Islands. 



1834. Astrwa melicerum Ehrenberg, Corallenth. Roth. Meer., p. 96. 



1914. Favia pentagona Matthai, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 2d ser., Zool., vol. 17, p. 9;, plate 10, fig. 5; 

 plate 24, figs. 2-4; plate 36, fig. 4 (non Madrepora pentagona Esper, 1797)- 



It has been shown that Astrea deformis Lamarck, type species of Aphrastrea 

 Milne Edwards and Haime, is Madrepora pentagona Esper. Professor Stanley Gard- 

 iner has sent to the U. S. National Museum a specimen labeled Favia pentagona by 

 Mr. Matthai. Dr. Wood Jones collected three damaged pieces of the same species 

 in Cocos-Keeling, one of which is illustrated on plate 41, figures 6, 6a. As the spe- 

 cific name pentagona is inapplicable, melicerum Ehrenberg should be used, as it seems 

 to be the oldest of those proposed for the species. Matthai's figures and descrip- 

 tions are good. 



