Manchester Memoirs, Vol liv. (1910), No. \%. 5 



short blunt spines. In a perfect specimen therefore there 

 would be sixteen rows of spines. 



Although tnany of the water-worn specimens have 

 rows of holes between the costae there can be no doubt 

 that these are due to post mortem wear and that Pvro- 

 phyllia is an im{)erforate coral. 



The zoological position of this interesting coral must 

 be considered fully when its structure has been more 

 carefully studied. All that can be said at present is that 

 there are only two recent corals that seem to approach it 

 at all in the system of Zoantharia. These are Guynia 

 aiiHiilala, Duncan, from the x'\dventure Bank, in 92 fathoms 

 of water, and HaplopJiyllia paradoxa, Pourtalcs, from off 

 the coast of Florida, in 324 fathoms of water. 



Guynia annulata approaches most closely to Pyro- 

 pliyllia in its annulate surface and its small size, but 

 although in some specimens of Guynia there are eight 

 large septa and eight small ones, in others there is evidence 

 of a hexameral septal arrangement, and the columella is 

 columnar. I have found one specimen of PyropJiyllia 

 which, like many specimens of Gnynia, is adherent by 

 its side to a foreign bod)'. 



Haplophyliia on the other hand is broadly adherent 

 by its base and shows no signs of annulation or 

 successive growth. It has eight large septa (protosepta) 

 connecting with the columella, alternating with eight 

 smaller septa (metasepta), as in PyropJiyllia, but another 

 cycle of septa is represented by rudiments in some of the 

 chambers. 



Duncan* placed the two genera in the family Cya- 

 thaxoniidae of the otherwise extinct order Rugosa. He 

 said that " the great distinction between Guynia and 

 CyatJiaxonia is the absence of the septal fossula in the first- 



* Phil. Iiuits, 1872. 



