356 CATALOGUE OF PORITES AND SYNAR.EA. 



This small species is very tlistiuct from Poritefi solida Verrill, the 

 only other member of the genus yet recorded from the Brazilian coast, 

 and I have also been unable to unite it with any of the species described 

 by Duchassaing and Michelotti from the Caribbean Sea. Its principal 

 characteristics are the mode of growth, the generally smooth surface, 

 small crowded cells, separated by thin but distinct walls, the lack of 

 columella, conspicuous pali, and fine echinulation of all the processes. 

 The amount of variation is not. great, though in some specimens the 

 septa and walls are thicker than in others, and in such cases the echinu- 

 lation is generally less marked. Thirty-two specimens have been ex- 

 amined by the writer froai the following localities : Parahyba do Norte, 

 near the city of Pernambuco, and the Bay of P>ahia. The species is 

 represented in the National Museum collection as follows : 



Parahyba tlo Norte, Brazil ; J. C. Brauner, 1876, type (10961). 



Caudeias Reef, Peruambnco, Brazil; C.F. Hartt, 1875, types (10962). 



3. Pontes clavaria Lamarck, 



Hist, (les Auim. saus Vert., ii, p. 269, 1816.— Agassiz, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., 

 vii, No. 1, pi. xii, tigs. 4-6, 1880. 



(Plate XVI; pi. XVII, fig. 2; pi. XVIII; pi. XIX, fig. 1.) 



Bermuda; Bermuda Cent. Commissioners, 1876 (3160); G.Brown Goode. 1876, iu 

 exchange witli Wesleyan University (15867) ; G. W. Hawes, 1882 (15868). 

 Bahamas : Nassau, New Providence ; U. S. Fish Comm. str. Albatross, 1886 (15870). 

 Florida : 



(?)* Ca'sar's Creek, 17 miles sontli of Cape Florida; E. Palmer, 1884 (15872). 

 Rodriguez Creek, 40 miles soutli of Cape Florida ; E. Palmer, 1884 (1.5863). 

 Stock Island and Salt Pond Key, about 6 miles NE. of Key West ; E. Palmer, 



1884 (1.5864, 15865). 

 Eastern Dry Rocks, 9 miles SW. of Key West ; E. Palmer, 1884 (15866). 

 Tortngas; Capt. D. P. AVoodbury, U. S. A. (1638); E. Palmer, 1884 (15859- 

 15^862). 

 West Indies ; J. D. Dana (706). 



The branching Porites of the Autillean region are represented in the 

 National Museum by a very large series of specimens, coming mainly 

 from Southern Florida, the Tortugas, and Bermuda. The collection from 

 the Florida reefs, including the Tortugas, comprises several hundred 

 specimens iu flue condition, the most of which have been recently ob- 

 tained expressly for this Museum. They were collected at several 

 diiferent localities between Cape Florida, at the northern extremity of 

 the reefs, and the Tortugas, at the southwestern extremity. At each 

 locality large numbers of specimens were secured, and the collection as 

 a whole affords an excellent opportunity to study the numerous varia- 

 tions in growth and structure, which render it so difficult to separate 

 the species. 



As stated by Pourtales, the structure of the cell alone is not suffi- 

 cient to characterize the two branching species now recognized from 



*A mark of interrogation before the name of a locality indicates that the identity 

 of the specimens from there is somewhat uncertain. 



