288 



OCULINA GLOMERATA, Lyman. 



Mass, encrusting a piece of sheet lead. In two or three places 

 there are signs of" the beginnings of branchlets. Corallum solid, 

 granulated slightly in the spaces between the calicles. Calicles 

 in some places crowded, and with numerous buds among them ; 

 generally 1^^ lines broad, and often f line high ; round, upright, 

 striated and granulated outside ; a few much larger than the rest. 

 LamelltB, in the full-grown calicles, 26, rarely less, and in a few 

 instances as many as 38 ; a little exsert, rather delicate, every 

 other one reaching the centre ; all toothed for their whole length, 

 and the larger ones with two or three little lobes, the lower of 

 which might be considered as paluli ; sides finely toothed. Colu- 

 mella small generally, and inclined to be spongy. 



The specimen is a couple of inches long and an inch high. It 

 was broughr by Mr. Couthouy from the wreck of the San Pedro, 

 sunk in 1814 in the bay of Cumana ; and is now in the collec- 

 tion of Dr. A. A. Gould. This species would come under the 

 genus Oculina as defined by Edwards. The other species differ 

 from it as follows : 0. virginea, Indian Ocean ; calicles far apart ; 

 rarely more than 24 lamellas — calicles a little swelled at the 

 base. 0. speciosa differs like the preceding, and has moreover 

 two circles of distinct paluli. 0. Petiveri, calicles distant, strongly 

 swelled at the base, and with furrows between. 0. Banhsii, cal- 

 icles distant, liardly raised above the surface, surrounded by a 

 depression. 0. Valenciennesi, calicles little prominent, sometimes 

 even depressed. 0. Jissipara, fissiparous ; • lamellae irregular. 

 O. varicosa, calicles farther apart ; lamella? stouter, less toothed ; 

 cavity deeper ; only 24 lamella?. 0. diffusa, calicles farther 

 apart ; lamellae stouter, little, or not at all, exsert, 24 in number. 

 0. pallens, calicles larger, deeper ; lamella? much stouter, and 

 less toothed. There is but one Oculina known which is encrust- 

 ing in its growth. This is the 0. conferta, (British Fossil 

 Corals, p. 27, tab. 11, fig. 2, 1850,) which is an eocene fossil, and 

 may, perhaps, with the present species, be only the young state 

 of an arborescent form. 



Dr. Jackson read a communication from John Bachel- 

 der, Esq., dated Monument, October 27, 1857, upon the 



