BULLETIN 59, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 89 



or branchlets. Other brunches may be 11 iimi. widf. with irregularly disposed 

 verruciforin processes. One broken branch is 2:i mm. wide near its upper end, 

 much compi-essed, i) mm. thick on its lower end, 7 mm. near its upper end; verrucie 

 on one side small, irregularly^ developed, and scattered; on the other side thej' are 

 almost obsolete. As can be gleaned from the foregoing, the verrucse are irregular 

 in development, sometimes almost entirely suj)pressed; they may or may not be 

 present on the ends of the wider, more coiupressed branches. 



Calices small, 0.4 to 0..5 nun. in diameter, distant from once to twice their 

 diameter; on the sunuuits of the branches and on the tips of the verrucas they are 

 larger, up to <». 7 mm. in diameter, and luay be separated by only a very thin wall. 

 Septa variable in development, in some instances rudimentary', tending to l)ecome 

 obsolete, in others well developed, with two cycles present. They are usually 

 especially well developed on the l)usal expansion. Columella terminated by a pointed 

 style connected to an elongated seiitum. 



The surface of the coenenchyma is thickly beset witli small, erect spines of very 

 even length. 



Ldcal'itit'x. — Vicinity of Laysan: SUition No. Si^a."); depth, 2U-:-5t» fathoms; bot- 

 tom, coral rock, algse; temperature, Y4° F. ; 3 specimens (the 2 cotypes and a broken 

 branch). 



French Frigate shoal Station: No. 31168; depth, 14.5 to 16.5 fathoms; bottom, 

 coarse sand, coral; temperature at surface, 75^ F.; 1 specimen. 



Cotypes.— Q?ii. No. 2087 1, U.S.N.M. 



RcinarlcK. — The specimen f I'oni Station 39B8 is somewhat larger and more ragged 

 in appearance than the types. Some of the calices on the expanded base are typically 

 styloplioroid. there are two cycles of septa, alternately longer and shortei-. and a 

 styliform columella. On the Ijranches the septa are usually, but not always, distinct. 

 The septa are very well developed in some of the calices of the type specimens, but 

 not so much as in some calices of the specimens from Station 3968. 



This variety grades on one hand into typical /*. ccxpitom; on the otiier into 

 P. cespitosil var styhjpli(ir<>i<les. From the former it is separated l)y its more irreg- 

 ular shape, its usually smaller and more distant cidices, and its better developed 

 septa and columella. The compression of some of its branches furnishes an addi- 

 tional difference. The difference between var. laysanensts and \-ar. sfy/oj)/io/roides 

 is solely one of degree. The branches of var. laysiitu'iisifi are usually slenderer, 

 more irregular and spreading. Tiie calices average smaller, and tlie septa and 

 columella are not so strongly developed. 



id. POCILLOPORA CESPITOSA var. STYLOPHOROIDES, new variety. 



Plate XII, tig. 2; Plate XIII, tig. 4; Plate XIV, tigs. 1, 2. 



The corallum forms a low chunp; type, I'n cm. long, 9 cm. wide, and s cm. tall. 

 Branches growing as plates rising from a common base. One plate is .59 mm. wide, 

 upper edge trilobed, others not more than 28 mm. in width, the narrowest is 15 mm. 

 wide; thickness, excluding the verruca?, about 6 mm. The upper edges of the plates 

 ratiier distant, 12 to 18 mm. There are some branches around the l>ase that do not 

 form detinite plates. On the sides of the plates are distinct verruca;, 2 to 5 mm. 



