358 CATALOGUE OF PORITES AND SYNARiEA. 



twisted, more or less proliferous triiuks, arising fi oni an almost solid 

 base; in seme cases the clumps are dense, but the branches retain the 

 same character as in the open growths. The cells are rehitively large, 

 usually circular and regular in oulliue, with thicker walls than in furcat^j 

 and may be either very shallow or deeply excavate. The specimens that 

 aredillicult to classify are mostly intermediate both in mode of growth 

 and in the character of the cells, but very exceptional varieties occur. 

 Large cells, containing from eighteen to twenty iour septa, occur fre- 

 quently in both species, but have been noticed most often in clavnria. 

 The majority of the specimens of the latter species examined have at 

 least one of these enlarged cells, and some have several, but they are 

 never numerous on any one specimen. They are as common in the Ber- 

 muda si)ecimens as in those from Florida, and are apparently no more 

 abundant in the few specimens of P. porona which this Museum has 

 received from Lower California. 



The following notes u])on the specimens of elararia in the Xatioual 

 jMuseum may be of service to others in identifyiug that species. The 

 varieties of P. furcata are described further on. The figures given on 

 plates XV-XVIII, and figure 1 of plate XIX, are intended to illus- 

 trate the princi])al variations in growth of these two species as rep- 

 resented in the Museum collection. The process by which they have 

 been engraved does not permit of showing the details of structure on so 

 small a scale, but an attempt has been made to imitate the general ap- 

 pearance of the surface. The drawings are by Mr. A. H. Baldwin. 



Is ear Salt Pond Key, 6 miles northeast of Key West (PI. XVI, figs. 1 and 

 2). — Que of the finest series of specimens of clavaria was obtained near 

 Salt Pond Key and between there and Stock Island, where the sur- 

 roundings are evidently very favorable to the growth of this species. 

 They form mostly very open clumps of few, widely divergent branches, 

 starting from a single stem, and varying in diameter from 10 to 35™'". 

 Branching takes place at intervals of 20 to 70"''", and is generally 

 simi)le. The branches are mostly circular in section, sometimes more 

 or less compressed, slightly swollen or constricted in i)laces, but for the 

 most part quite regular; straight or slightly sinuose in the intervals 

 between branching, but zigzag in their entire length, and very gradu- 

 ally ta])ering from the base.toward the tips, which are blunt and rounded 

 or conq)ressed and bifurcate; alive for a variable distance, and some- 

 times for nearly their entire length, but generally dead and overgrown 

 with nullipores and sponges below. Terminal branchlets may be 70'"'" 

 louii' without dividing. Cells from 1.5 to 2.5""" in diameter, varying 

 from shallow to very deep, generally subcircular and regular in outline^ 

 occasionally somewhat crowded. The color of living specimens, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Palmer, is violet and purplish. 



Ro(lri(/uez Creel:, about-^0 miles south of Cape Florida (PI. XVI, fig.3). — 

 Frouj this locality we have many specimens, somewhat similar in growth 

 to those from Stock Island, the branches of about the same diameter 



