CORALS FROM MURRAY, COCOS-KEELING, AND FANNING ISLANDS. 117 



Length of radius of corallum, 9 cm. (diameter, about 18 cm.); thickness at center, 5 cm.; 

 thickness at edge, from a mere basal membrane at the ends of valleys up to 5 mm., the 

 height of a colline. Texture light. 



Intercorallite walls thin, sometimes with slits between the septa. 



Calices circumscribed or in series, but where they occur in series the calicinal centers 

 are distinct. Circumscribed calices, about 7 by 8 mm. in diameter; the series range from 

 9 mm. wide and 17 mm. long to 6 mm. wide and 44 mm. long. Range in width from 6 to 9 

 mm.; in length from 8 to 44 mm. Depth from 5 to 6 mm. Distance from the edge of 

 one columella to the edge of the next in the series from 2 to 5.5 mm. 



Septa thin, 10 to 12 within 5 mm.; i. e., 20 to 24 to I cm.; alternately larger and 

 smaller with fair regularity; opposed outer septal ends meet in an angle on the colline sum- 

 mit (a larger usually but not invariably opposite a smaller). Below this angle the septa 

 are narrow and fall steeply within the narrow valleys, but slope more gradually within 

 wide valleys. Between the wall and the inner ends of the septa there are from about 12 to 

 about 14 pectinations; those near the lower ends of the septa somewhat larger and more or 

 less divided on their tips. Thin, erect paliform lobes well developed. Their inner edges 

 fall steeply to the periphery of a columella composed of fine, rather delicate septal trabeculae. 

 Septal faces beset with delicate, pointed granulations. 



Endotheca highly developed, very vesicular. 



Another specimen differs from the holotype chiefly in having a more distinctly 

 hillocky surface; and some septa are thicker. 



Localities. — Meyer Island, on rock; depth 1 fathom (holotype). Meyer 

 Island, rocky and gravel bottom; depth 12 fathoms (paratype). Dayrell Islet, 

 volcanic submarine beds. 



This coral is a species of Goniastrea, and except that it has meandroid calicinal 

 valleys, it bears considerable resemblance to some specimens of G. pectinata (Ehren- 

 berg). G. planulata Milne Edwards and Haime has meandroid coralhtes, but its 

 skeleton is much heavier. I know of no described coral species to which the one 

 here considered is referable, but that it has a rather wide distribution in the Pacific 

 Ocean is shown by a specimen from Formosa (according to the label), in the U. S. 

 National Museum. 



Studer 1 has described a coral from Singapore, to which he applies the name 

 Scapophyllia lobata, which may be the same as this, but he gives the number of 

 septa for it as 13-15 to 1 cm., while the number for Goniastrea benhami is 20-24 to 

 I cm. If Studer meant 13-15 to apply to the larger septa the number per centi- 

 meter would be nearly the same as in the latter. A good photographic illustration 

 of Studer's species is needed. 



Genus LEPTORIA Milne Edwards and Haime. 

 1848. Leptoria Milne Edwards and Haime, Acad. Sci., Comptes rend., vol. 27, p 49J. 



Type species: Meandrina phrygia Lamarck = Madrepora phrygia Ellis and 



Solander. 



Leptoria phrygia (Ellis and Solander). 



Plate 4;, figures 4, 5, specimens from Cocos-Keeling Islands; plate 46, figure 1, Ellis and Solander's type of Madre- 

 pora phrygia; figures 2, 3, specimens from Cocos-Keeling Islands. 



1786. Madrepora phrygia Ellis and Solander, Nat. Hist. Zooph., p. 162, plate 48, fig 2. 



Although the U. S. National Museum possesses Dana's types of Leptoria tenuis 

 and L. gracilis, the suite of specimens representing the genus is too meager for an 

 adequate study of the range in variations of the reputed species belonging to it. 

 The present identification of the specimens obtained by Dr. Wood Jones in Cocos- 

 Keeling is based on a photograph of Ellis and Solander's type, which is in the Hun- 

 terian Museum, Glasgow, and of which Professor J. Graham Kerr has sent me a 



l Naturforsch. Gesellsch. Bern Mitth., Jhr. 1880, p. 34, 1881. 



