98 UKCKNT MADKKl'nUAKlA oK TlIK IIAWAHAN ISLANDS AND LAYSAN. 



hram-hos. with nou.lv naked sunnnits. Tl..^ verruca are rather .mall and closely 

 crowded The colls arc sonu.Nvliat smaller tlm.i is usual in P. nohhs, and the septa 

 are in <ronoral vcrv narrow, or scarcely appar.M.t. The surface is finely grauulous. 

 Its rcseuil. lance to /'. xohUlx is so K'-^'it as to suggest the possibility that it may f.e 

 only an extrem.- variety of that species."" Professor Studer, in 1901, expressed a 



similar opinion.'' 



The Alh<ilr<.x.-< expedition of VM)^> obtained 8 specimens and several fragments of 

 VerrilTs /'. „nl,:i;s. and tiiere were alivady 4 specimens of it in the United States 

 National Mus(.uni. Prof. W. T. Brigham has sent 4 additional specimens of var. 

 iwhlUs and 1 of var. t>ih,-rosa. I iiave thus l)een able to study over 2(1 specimens of 

 P. meaiiilrhiii and its varieties. 



Typical /'. wniiHlnna lies at the periphery of the species, while ^'erl•ll^s 

 /'. iwhUlx is the centi-r. The branches of /'. iH^hlH^ are very variable in form, 

 sometimes becoming contorted plates (Plate XIV, fig. 4), but in other characters 

 they are typical for that variety. The only criterion for its separation from 

 P. meandrina woidd consist in the verrucose summits of the branches. The type 

 of P. mcandruKt shows, in places, ol)scure summit verrucas on the specimen of 

 typical /*. weandrliiii. from Professor Prigham, summit verruca- are distinct on the 

 peripheral l)ranclies. 'I'here is complete overlapping in this character. Therefore 

 Pocillopom nohills \'<'rriil can be regarded as only a variety of 7'. meandrhxi Dana. 



6b. POCILLOPORA MEANDRINA var. NOBILIS Verrill. 



riatc XIV, tifxs. .S, 4; Plate XXII, tif;!^. I, \«, 2, 2'/; Plate XXIII. 



lS4r.. Pocilliipora rernicom (part) Dana, Zooph. WilkeH Kxpl. Exped., p. .52i), pi. l, li^s. ;i, 8(1. 



(Not Ellis ami Solander. ) 

 1864. Pocillopom uohllis Vekkill, Bull. Mus. ("omp. /ool., 1, p. b'i. 

 1869. Porillipomnohili.f Xerrill, Proc. Essex Inst., VI, p. 97. 

 1886. PociUopora nobilis IJuelcfi, Eeef Corals, Challenger Kept., p. 68. 

 1886. Pocillopom rernirosa Qlelcii, Reef Corals, Challenger Kept., p. 69. 

 1888. PociUopora nohili.t Fowler, tjuart. Jour. :Microscop. Sci., XXVIII, ii. s., p. 42.5. 

 1901. Pocillojiom nohilif Studer, Zool. .lahrb., Syst., L, p. 400. 



Verrill's descriplinn published in 1869 is as follow.s: 



Coralliuii lirni ami ileuse, forming large round-toppeil or hemispherieal elumps, often a foot or 

 even 18 inelies in diameter. Branehes nearly equal in length, separated by regular intervals of 0.4 

 to 0.5 of an inch, elniigated, often nearly round, 0.6 to 0.75 of an inch in diameter, regularly forking 

 and not enlarued at tlie obtusely roundeil ends; in other cases, even in the same specimen, dilated at 

 the ends to a breadth of 2 or 3 inches and more or less plicated. Sunnnits of the branches generally 

 strongly verrucose, the verrucic similar to those of the sides, but usually smaller and more crowded. 

 Lateral verruca; very numerous, rather crowded, the int<'rvals being usually less than their diameter; 

 small, regular, spreading obliiiuely or even standing at right angles to the surface; tapering and some- 

 what rounded at the end, but angular and containing but few t|uite large cells. Between the verrucfe 

 the cells are rather large, numerous, usually less than half their own diameter apart. Septa but little 

 develojjed, very narrow, usually indistinct or wholly fibsolete. Columella very small or wanting. 

 Surface of the <-ienen(hyma regularly covereil with rather small spinuliform granules. Color of the 

 unlileache<I coral deep yellowish brown. 



Hawaiian Islands, J. I). Dana, Rev. Mr. P.aldwin, A. (iarret, Horace Mann, W. T. Brigham. 



«Proc. Essex Inst., VI, 1869, p. 98. 

 ''Zool. .labrb., Syst., 1.. HUH. ]>. 400. 



