CORALS FROM MURRAY, COCOS-KEELING, AND FANNING ISLANDS. I 29 



Genus HERPETOLITHA Eschscholtz. 



1825. Herpetolitha Eschscholtz, Isis for 1825, p. 746. 



i860. Herpetolitha Milne Edwards, Hist. nat. Corall., vol. 3, p. 23. 



1909. Herpetolitha Gardiner, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 2d ser., Zool., vol. 12, p. 282. 



Type species: Madrepora Umax Esper. 



Four species of this genus are in the U. S. National Museum, viz, H. Umax 

 (Esper), H.foliosa (Ehrenberg), //. crassa (Dana), and //. stricta (Dana). As the 

 last-mentioned species has never been adequately illustrated, figures of it are 

 published, plate 5, figures 2, 30, 3b, and a description of it follows the remarks on 

 H. crassa. 



Herpetolitha crassa Dana. 

 Plate 53, figures I, la, Dana's type of Herpetolithus crassus; plate 54, figure 1, specimen from Cocos-Keeling Islands. 



1846. Herpitolithus crassus Dana, U. S Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 310, plate 20, figs. 5, $a-$c. 



1898. Herpetolitha crassa Gardiner, Proc. Zool. Soc. London for 1898, p. 529. 



1909. Herpetolitha crassa Gardiner, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 2d ser., Zool., vol. 12, pt. 4, p. 286. 



Type in U. S. National Museum, No. 160, see plate 53, figures 1, la. 



Dr. Wood Jones collected one excellent specimen in Cocos-Keeling Islands. 

 Its dimensions are as follows: Length, 314 mm.; width at wider end, 157 mm., 

 median, 125 mm., narrower end, 130 mm.; height, 92 mm.; depth of concavity of 

 under surface, 61 mm. 



Gardiner has properly presented the diagnostic characters of the species. 



Habitat, etc., Cocos-Keeling Islands. — Dr. Wood Jones says of the specimen 

 collected by him: 



"From the southwest part of the lagoon, lying free in a pool. The only colony seen in 

 the atoll. None of the island residents knew it and the native who first saw it tried to spear 

 it (the spear mark is on the specimen). An old specimen is preserved in the Governor's 

 house. While alive it was brownish in color, turning paler as it was exposed to the sun 

 and air." 



The specimens reported by Gardiner from Funafuti were light brown, with 

 dark bands around the mouths while alive. Dana's figure of the species shows it to 

 be brown with green around the mouths. 



Distribution. — Cocos-Keeling Islands; Fiji Islands (Dana's type); Funafuti 



(Gardiner). 



Herpetolitha stricta Dana. 



Plate 51, figures 3, 30, 3^, Dana's type of Herpetolithus strictus. 



1846. Herpetolithus strictus Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 309, plate 21, fig. I. 



The following is a description of Dana's type No. 161, FJ. S. National Museum: 



Corallum oblong; 19^ mm. long; 65 mm. wide; 48 mm. tall; cavity of base, 18 mm. deep. 



The axial furrow extends completely from one end to the other. The central calice 

 is 9 mm. deep, 22 mm. long, and 3 mm. wide; it is surrounded by the inner nearly perpendic- 

 ular edges of about 28 large septa, between each pair of which is 1 or 3 septa of higher cycles. 

 The calice on each side next the central one is 14 mm. long, and there are 10 to 12 large septa; 

 9 large septa to I cm. As the ends are approached the calices decrease in length and gradu- 

 ally become less distinct. 



The upper margins of the large septa are flat above, subhorizontal, not arched as is 

 usual in H. Umax. The edges are finely dentate, sides finely granulate; synapticulae obvious 

 from above. Secondary calicinal centers are developed as close as 8 mm. to the axial 

 furrow, and are more distinctly radiate than in H. Umax. 



The lower surface shows a solid center, which is 46 mm. long by about 16 mm. wide, and 

 is covered by short, thick spines without regular arrangement. Outside the central area 

 there are numerous slit-like perforations between the costal ends of the septa, and stout 

 spines are arranged along the costs. Plate 32, figure 3a, an enlarged view of the spines, 

 shows that their ends are granulate. 



Locality of the type. — Tahiti, FJ. S. Exploring Expedition. 



