323 IVerrill 



back bone, was hard and gritty, and difficult to cut with the knife. 

 The fish had evidently been swallowed by the cod ; and had re- 

 mained as a foreign body for a long time, becoming hardened by the 

 deposition of salts. Its presence did not seem to affect the health of 

 the cod. 



April 18, 1866. 

 The President in tbe chair. 



Thirty-eight members present. 



The following papers were read : 



On the Polyps axd Corals of Paxama with Descriptions 

 OF New Species. By A. E. Verrill. 



In the following pages I have attempted to bring together all the 

 species of Polypi, hitherto observed on the west coast of Central 

 America, so far as they are known to me , together with several that 

 appear to be new to science, sent home by Mr. F. H. Bradley, who 

 has spent three months in collecting the Marine Invertebrates of that 

 region for the Museum of Yale College. This collection also affords 

 the means of gaining a better knowledge of several species which I 

 described in the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 No. III., page 29, 1864, from specimens belonging to that Museum 

 and to the Smithsonian Institution, but in some cases not so numer- 

 ous or characteristic as was desirable. 



The differences in the character of the Polyp Faunge of the Atlan- 

 tic and Pacific sides of Central America, are very remarkable. At 

 Aspinwall coral reefs occur, having essentially the same features as 

 those of Florida and the West Indies, formed by the same species of 

 corals, and inhabited by the same species of Echinoderms, jMolIusca, 

 Crustacea, etc. Nearly all the well known reef-building corals of 

 Florida are found at Aspinwall, viz.: Porites astrceoides Lnik., P. chiv- 

 aria Lmk., Mwlrepora pahnata L., M. cervicorms L., M. pro/ if era L., 

 Mceandrina clivom Verrill, M. labf/rinthica, M. simiosa Les., and 

 other species, Manicina areolafa Ehr. Siderina radiata. Verrill, S. 

 gcdaxea Blainv., Orhicella cavernosa Verrill, 0. annidaris Dana, etc. 

 But at Panama none of these forms occur, nor even any of the gen- 

 era of the families to which they belong, with the exception of Pordes, 

 which is there represented by a small species, and by another allied 



