CORALS FROM MURRAY, COCOS-KEELING, AND FANNING ISLANDS. 147 



Astreopora ocellata Bernard. 

 Plate 17, figures 36, 37, of Dr. Mayer's article. 



1895. Astreopora ocellata Bernard, Cat. Gen. Astreopora, p. 95, plate 29; plate 33, fig. 16. 



1895. Astreopora ovalis Bernard, Cat. Gen, Astreopora, p. 97, plate 30; plate 33, fig. 17. 



1896. Astreopora kenti Bernard, Cat. Gen. Astrreopora, p. 97, plate 30; plate 33, fig. 19. 



The following are descriptions of specimens of Astreopora ocellata from Murray 

 Island: 



Specimen No. I. — Corallum small, irregularly hemispherical; diameters, 44 by 57 mm.; 

 height, 41 mm. Attached by the base, on which epitheca is present. 



Calices very deep; of two kinds, larger with prominent margins, smaller with low mar- 

 gins, the latter, however, by growth become prominent. Furthermore, the calices on one 

 side are uniformly smaller than on the other. Diameter of the large calices from 2.5 to 3 

 mm.; margins exsert about I mm., frequently higher on one side than on the other. Small 

 calices appear in the bottoms of the depressions in the interspaces between the large; diam- 

 eter ranges up from 1.5 mm. to the size of the large calices. Distance between calices from 

 1.5 to 3 mm., usually about 2 mm. On the side of the corallum, where the calices are smaller, 

 the diameter of largest is about 2 mm., of the smallest I mm.; distance apart, up to 3 mm. 



Septa in large calices, the 6 primaries, sometimes 7 or 8 septa, are more prominent than 

 the others. These are narrow above; deep down in the calice they may loosely fuse by their 

 inner edges, but usually they appear not to fuse. Smaller secondaries are constantly present 

 as ridges between the primaries, and frequently the third cycle is represented in a number of 

 half systems by rudimentary septa, but this cycle is rarely or never complete. In the smallest 

 calices the septa may not be distinct. On the side of the corallum where the calices are 

 smaller, the first and second cycles are well developed and there are a few small tertiaries. 

 There is no distinct columella; corallite tubes crossed by thin tabulae, about I mm. apart. 



Around the calices are fairly definite roughly spinulose costs. The coenenchyma seem 

 to form successive perforate platforms which are supported on the spines or through which 

 the ascending trabeculae project as spines. 



Specimen No. 2. — Upper surface not so steeply arched as in No. I, more distinctly of 

 the pulvinate growth-form. Larger calices average about 2 mm. in diameter. Distance 

 apart of calices I to 2 mm. Usually only 2 cycles of septa, occasional rudimentary tertiaries. 

 This specimen has all the essential structure of No. 1, its difference consisting in less luxuri- 

 ant growth than on the top and the side of No. 1, where the calices are larger. 



Stations, Murray Island: 



Specimen No. I, southeast reef flat, line I, 1,200-1,250 feet from shore; water 16 inches deep at 



lowest tide; bottom hard, of broken coral. 

 Specimen No. 2, southeast reef flat, line I, 1,620-1,670 feet from shore; water 14 to 16 inches deep 



at low tide; hard, rocky bottom. 



I have referred to the same species three of the forms of Astreopora to which 

 Bernard assigned specific names. All are characterized by having the corallites 

 somewhat protuberant and swollen around the base of the projecting part, by 

 having definite or fairly definite echinulate costae outside the corallite walls, by 

 septa which are narrow above, and the primaries, although they widen down in the 

 calices, do not form a columella. The differences pointed out by Bernard may all 

 be accounted for by vegetative variation. Specimen No. 1 may be referred indiffer- 

 ently to A. ocellata or A. ovalis, while specimen No. 2 might be referred to A. kenti. 



Distribution. — At present known only from the Great Barrier Reef and Baudin 

 Island. 



Genus TURBINARIA Oken. 



1815. Turbinaria Oken, Lehrb. Naturg., Th. 3., Abth. 1, p. 67. 



Type species: Madrepora crater Pallas. 



The species of Turbinaria reported from Australia by Bernard are listed on 

 the following page. How many of the 27 reputed species should be recognized as 

 valid can only be determined by a critical revision of Bernard's original specimens, 



'Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), Cat. Madreporaria, vol. 2, Turbinaria, pp. 1-75, 1896. 



